UC-NRLF 


SB    EflS    M3fl 


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^ 

a     LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIKT  O 
J^^ 

Received 
Accession  No.  O  I  (o  0   H  .    Claxs  NJ. 


ECLECTIC  SCHOOL   READINGS 


OLD   GREEK   STORIES 


THIRD  READER  GRADE 


ey 

JAMES  BALDWIN 
fl 


UNIVERSITY 
*2£CAUFOrt£> 


NEW  YORK  •:•  CINCINNATI  •:•  CHICAGO 
AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY 


770 


r 

COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
AMERICAN   BOOK  COMPANYe 

OLD   GREEK   STORIES. 
W.  P.  7 


PREFACE. 


PERHAPS  no  other  stories  have  ever  been  told  so  often  or 
listened  to  with  so  much  pleasure  as  the  classic  tales  of  ancient 
Greece.  For  many  ages  they  have  been  a  source  of  delight 
to  young  people  and  old,  to  the  ignorant  and  the  learned,  to 
all  who  love  to  hear  about  and  contemplate  things  mysterious, 
beautiful,  and  grand.  They  have  become  so  incorporated  into 
our  language  and  thought,  and  so  interwoven  with  our  literature, 
that  we  could  not  do  away  with  them  now  if  we  would.  They 
are  a  portion  of  our  heritage  from  the  distant  past,  and  they 
form  perhaps  as  important  a  part  of  our  intellectual  life  as 
they  did  of  that  of  the  people  among  whom  they  originated. 

That  many  of  these  tales  should  be  read  by  children  at  an 
early  age  no  intelligent  person  will  deny.  Sufficient  reason  for 
this  is  to  be  found  in  the  real  pleasure  that  every  child  derives 
from  their  perusal :  and  in  the  preparation  of  this  volume  no 
other  reason  has  been  considered.  I  have  here  attempted  to 
tell  a  few  stories  of  Jupiter  and  his  mighty  company  and  of  some 
of  the  old  Greek  heroes,  simply  as  stories,  nothing  more.  I  have 
carefully  avoided  every  suggestion  of  interpretation.  Attempts 
at  analysis  and  explanation  will  always  prove  fatal  to  a  child's 
appreciation  and  enjoyment  of  such  stories.  To  inculcate  the 

3 


idea  that  these  tales  are  merely  descriptions  of  certain  natural 
phenomena  expressed  in  narrative  and  poetic  form,  is  to  de- 
prive them  of  their  highest  charm;  it  is  like  turning  precious 
gold  into  utilitarian  iron;  it  is  changing  a  delightful  romance 
into  a  dull  scientific  treatise.  The  wise  teacher  will  take  heed 
not  to  be  guilty  of  such  an  error. 

It  will  be  observed  that  while  each  of  the  stories  in  this  volume 
is  wholly  independent  of  the  others  and  may  be  read  without 
any  knowledge  of  those  which  precede  it,  there  is  nevertheless 
a  certain  continuity  from  the  first  to  the  last,  giving  to  the  col- 
lection a  completeness  like  that  of  a  single  narrative.  In  order 
that  the  children  of  our  own  country  and  time  may  be  the  better 
able  to  read  these  stories  in  the  light  in  which  they  were  narrated 
long  ago,  I  have  told  them  in  simple  language,  keeping  the 
supernatural  element  as  far  as  possible  in  the  background,  and 
nowhere  referring  to  Jupiter  and  his  mighty  company  as  gods. 
I  have  hoped  thus  to  free  the  narrative  still  more  from  every- 
thing that  might  detract  from  its  interest  simply  as  a  story. 

J.  B. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

JUPITER  AND  HIS  MIGHTY  COMPANY  .     .     ,     .    .    „     „     .    .     .      7 

THE  GOLDEN  AGE .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     10 

THE  STORY  OF  PROMETHEUS    .     .     .     ,     ,     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     14 

THE  FLOOD . . ....    26 

THE  STORY  OF  lo ,     .     .     .     .     „     ,     ,     .     .     .    32 

THE  WONDERFUL  WEAVER  .     .     .     .     .  -   .     .     .     ,     .     .     .     .    40 

THE  LORD  OF  THE  SILVER  Bow   ....,..". 46 

ADMETUS  AND  ALCESTIS  .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     „ 64 

CADMUS  AND  EUROPA ,     .    .     ,     .     .     .     .     .     .    75 

THE  QUEST  OF  MEDUSA'S  HEAD ....    88 

THE  STORY  OF  ATALANTA    .............  115 

THE  HORSE  AND  THE  OLIVE    .     .     .     ,     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     . ^137 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THESEUS      .     .     .     .     .     ......  147 

THE  WONDERFUL  ARTISAN  .     .         .     ,     .     .     .     .     .     ,     .     .  183 

THE  CRUEL  TRIBUTE ....-,...  193 

5 


PERSONS   AND   PLACES   MENTIONED. 


Ad  me'tus 

Qer'cy  on 

Her^u  leg 

Per'dix 

M  ge'an  Sea 

Qe'reg 

I  -ea'ri  an  Sea 

Per  i  gu'ne 

-ZE'geus  (jus) 

•€hel'ron 

I-e'a  rus 

Per'seus  (sus) 

M  gi'na 

•eio'tho 

I'o 

Pitftheus 

Ms  -eu  la/pi  us 

•€o  ro'nis 

I  ol'-eus 

Plu'to 

^E'thra 

•Cran'a  e 

Ju'no 

Po  sel'don 

A  i  do'ne  us 

-Crete 

Ju'pi  ter 

Pro  -erus'teg 

Al  c.es'tis 

Qy  «lo'pe§ 

Lftb'y  rinth 

Pro  me'theus 

Al  the'a 

Qy'prus 

Lash'e  sis 

(thus) 

An  dro'ge  os 

Dse'da  lus 

Le'to 

Pros'er  pine 

An  drom'e  da 

Dan  'a  e 

Mars 

Pyr'rha 

A  pol'lo 

Daph'ne 

Me  de'a 

Pyth'i  a 

A  rash'ne 

De'los 

Me  du'sa 

Py'thon 

Ar  -ea/di  a 

Delphi 

Meg'a  ra 

Sa  r5n'i-e  Sea 

Ar'gos 

Deu  -ea'li  on 

Me!  la'ni  on 

Sat'urn 

Ar'gus 

Dl  an'a 

Mel  e  a'ger 

Scl'ron 

Ar  i  ad'ne 

E'gypt 

Mer'«u  ry 

SiQ'i  ly 

Ar'te  mis 

E  leu'sis 

MI  ner'va 

Sl'nis 

A'sia 

Ep  i  me'theus 

MI'nos 

Tem'pe 

At  a  lan'ta 

(thus) 

Min'o  taur 

Thebe§ 

A  the'na 

Eu  ro'pa 

My  9e'na3 

The'seus  (sus) 

Ath'en§ 

Eu'rope 

Nep'tune 

Thes'sa  ly 

At'ro  pos 

G6r'gons 

Nile 

Ti'ryn§ 

Ba-e'-ehus 

Greece 

CE'neus  (nus) 

Tl'tang 

Bos'pho  rus 

Ha/de§ 

Os'sa 

Troa'zen 

-Gadme'ia 

Har  mo'ni  a 

Pan  do'ra 

Ve'nus 

-Gad'mus 

He'li  os 

Par  nas'sus 

Ves'ta 

•€al'y  don 

Hel'las 

Par'neg 

Vulcan 

•€Jau'«a  sus 

HelQen 

Pe'li  as 

Zeus  (zus) 

Qe'-erops 

Hellenes 

Pe  ne^us 

OLD  GREEK  STORIES. 


JUPITER    AND    HIS    MIGHTY    COMPANY. 

A  LONG  time  ago,  when  the  world  was  much 
younger  than  it  is  now,  people  told  and  believed 
a  great  many  wonderful  stories  about  wonderful 
things  which  neither  you  nor  I  have  ever  seen. 
They  often  talked  about  a  certain  Mighty  Being 
called  Jupiter,  or  Zeus,  who  was  king  of  the  sky 
and  the  earth ;  and  they  said  that  he  sat  most  of 
the  time  amid  the  clouds  on  the  top  of  a  very  high 
mountain  where  he  could  look  down  and  see  every- 
thing that  was  going  on  in  the  earth  beneath.  He 
liked  to  ride  on  the  storm-clouds  and  hurl  burning 
thunderbolts  right  and  left  among  the  trees  and 
rocks;  and  he  was  so  very,  very  mighty  that 
when  he  nodded,  the  earth  quaked,  the  mountains 


trembled  and  smoked,  the  sky  grew  black,  and  the 
sun  hid  his  face. 

Jupiter  had  two  brothers,  both  of  them  terrible 
fellows,  but  not  nearly  so  great  as  himself.  The  name 
of  one  of  them  was  Neptune,  or  Poseidon,  and  he 
was  the  king  of  the  sea.  He  had  a  glittering,  golden 
palace  far  down  in  the  deep  sea-caves  where  the 
fishes  live  and  the  red  coral  grows ;  and  whenever 
he  was  angry  the  waves  would  rise  mountain  high, 
and  the  storm-winds  would  howl  fearfully,  and  the 
sea  would  try  to  break  over  the  land;  and  men 
called  him  the  Shaker  of  the  Earth. 

The  other  brother  of  Jupiter  was  a  sad  pale- 
faced  being,  whose  kingdom  was  underneath  the 
earth,  where  the  sun  never  shone  and  where  there 
was  darkness  and  weeping  and  sorrow  all  the  time. 
His  name  was  Pluto,  or  Aidoneus,  and  his  country 
was  called  the  Lower  World,  or  the  Land  of 
Shadows,  or  Hades.  Men  said  that  whenever  any 
one  died,  Pluto  would  send  his  messenger,  or  Shadow 
Leader,  to  carry  that  one  down  into  his  cheerless 
kingdom ;  and  for  that  reason  they  never  spoke  well 
of  him,  but  thought  of  him  only  as  the  enemy  of 
life. 

A  great  number  of  other  Mighty  Beings  lived 
with  Jupiter  amid  the  clouds  on  the  mountain  top, 
—  so  many  that  I  can  name  a  very  few  only.  There 


was  Venus,  the  queen  of  love  and  beauty,  who  was 
fairer  by  far  than  any  woman  that  you  or  I  have  ever 
seen.  There  was  Athena,  or  Minerva,  the  queen 
of  the  air,  who  gave  people  wisdom  and  taught  them 
how  to  do  very  many  useful  things.  There  was 
Juno,  the  queen  of  earth  and  sky,  who  sat  at  the 
right  hand  of  Jupiter  and  gave  him  all  kinds  of 
advice.  There  was  Mars,  the  great  warrior,  whose 
delight  was  in  the  din  of  battle.  There  was  Mer- 
cury, the  swift  messenger,  who  had  wings  on  his 
cap  and  shoes,  and  who  flew  from  place  to  place 
like  the  summer  clouds  when  they  are  driven  before 
the  wind.  There  was  Vulcan,  a  skillful  blacksmith, 
who  had  his  forge  in  a  burning  mountain  and 
wrought  many  wonderful  things  of  iron  and  copper 
and  gold.  And  besides  these,  there  were  many 
others  about  whom  you  will  learn  by  and  by, 
and  about  whom  men  told  strange  and  beautiful 
stories. 

They  lived  in  glittering,  golden  mansions,  high 
up  among  the  clouds  —  so  high  indeed  that  the  eyes 
of  men  could  never  see  them.  But  they  could  look 
down  and  see  what  men  were  doing,  and  oftentimes 
they  were  said  to  leave  their  lofty  homes  and  wander 
unknown  across  the  land  or  over  the  sea. 

And  of  all  these  Mighty  Folk,  Jupiter  was  by 
far  the  mightiest. 


THE   GOLDEN   AGE. 

JUPITER  and  his  Mighty  Folk  had  not  always 
dwelt  amid  the  clouds  on  the  mountain  top.  In 
times  long  past,  a  wonderful  family  called  Titans 
had  lived  there  and  had  ruled  over  all  the  world. 
There  were  twelve  of  them  —  six  brothers  and  six 
sisters  —  and  they  said  that  their  father  was  the 
Sky  and  their  mother  the  Earth.  They  had  the 
form  and  looks  of  men  and  women,  but  they  were 
much  larger  and  far  more  beautiful. 

'<The  name  of  the  youngest  of  these  Titans  was 
Saturn ;  and  yet  he  was  so  very  old  that  men  often 
called  him  Father  Time.  He  was  the  king  of  the 
Titans,  and  so,  of  course,  was  the  king  of  all  the 
earth  besides. 

Men  were  never  so  happy  as  they  were  during 
Saturn's  reign.  It  was  the  true  Golden  Age 
then.  The  springtime  lasted  all  the  year.  The 
woods  and  meadows  were  always  full  of  blossoms, 
and  the  music  of  singing  birds  was  heard  every 
day  and  every  hour.  It  was  summer  and  autumn, 


10 


II 

too,  at  the  same  time.  Apples  and  figs  and  oranges 
always  hung  ripe  from  the  trees ;  and  there  were 
purple  grapes  on  the  vines,  and  melons  and  berries 
of  every  kind,  which  the  people  had  but  to  pick 
and  eat. 

Of  course  nobody  had  to  do  any  kind  of  work 
in  that  happy  time.  There  was  no  such  thing  as 
sickness  or  sorrow  or  old  age.  Men  and  women 
lived  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  years  and 
never  became  gray  or  wrinkled  or  lame,  but  were 
always  handsome  and  young.  They  had  no  need 
of  houses,  for  there  were  no  cold  days  nor  storms 
nor  anything  to  make  them  afraid. 

Nobody  was  poor,  for  everybody  had  the  same 
precious  things  —  the  sunlight,  the  pure  air,  the 
wholesome  water  of  the  springs,  the  grass  for  a 
carpet,  the  blue  sky  for  a  roof,  the  fruits  and 
flowers  of  the  woods  and  meadows.  So,  of  course, 
no  one  was  richer  than  another,  and  there  was 
no  money,  nor  any  locks  or  bolts;  for  everybody 
was  everybody's  friend,  and  no  man  wanted  to 
get  more  of  anything  than  his  neighbors  had. 

When  these  happy  people  had  lived  long  enough 
they  fell  asleep,  and  their  bodies  were  seen  no  more. 
They  flitted  away  through  the  air,  and  over  the 
mountains,  and  across  the  sea,  to  a  flowery  land  in 
the  distant  west.  And  some  men  say  that,  even  to 


12 


this  day,  they  are  wandering  happily  hither  and 
thither  about  the  earth,  causing  babies  to  smile 
in  their  cradles,  easing  the  burdens  of  the  toilworn 
and  sick,  and  blessing  mankind  everywhere. 

What  a  pity  it  is  that  this  Golden  Age  should 
have  come  to  an  end !  But  it  was  Jupiter  and  his 
brothers  who  brought  about  the  sad  change. 

It  is  hard  to  believe  it,  but  men  say  that  Jupiter 
was  the  son  of  the  old  Titan  king,  Saturn,  and  that 
he  was  hardly  a  year  old  when  he  began  to  plot 
how  he  might  wage  war  against  his  father.  As 
soon  as  he  was  grown  up,  he  persuaded  his 
brothers,  Neptune  and  Pluto,  and  his  sisters,  Juno, 
Ceres,  and  Vesta,  to  join  him ;  and  they  vowed  that 
they  would  drive  the  Titans  from  the  earth. 

Then  followed  a  long  and  terrible  war.  But 
Jupiter  had  many  mighty  helpers.  A  company  of 
one-eyed  monsters  called  Cyclopes  were  kept  busy 
all  the  time,  forging  thunderbolts  in  the  fire  of 
burning  mountains.  Three  other  monsters,  each 
with  a  hundred  hands,  were  called  in  to  throw 
rocks  and  trees  against  the  stronghold  of  the 
Titans ;  and  Jupiter  himself  hurled  his  sharp  light- 
ning darts  so  thick  and  fast  that  the  woods  were 
set  on  fire  and  the  water  in  the  rivers  boiled  with 
the  heat. 

Of  course,  good,  quiet  old  Saturn  and  his  brothers 


13 

and  sisters  could  not  hold  out  always  against  such 
foes  as  these.  At  the  end  of  ten  years  they  had 
to  give  up  and  beg  for  peace.  They  were  bound 
in  chains  of  the  hardest  rock  and  thrown  into 
a  prison  in  the  Lower  World ;  and  the  Cyclopes 
and  the  hundred-handed  monsters  were  sent  there 
to  be  their  jailers  and  to  keep  guard  over  them 
forever. 

Then  men  began  to  grow  dissatisfied  with  their 
lot.  Some  wanted  to  be  rich  and  own  all  the  good 
things  in  the  world.  Some  wanted  to  be  kings 
and  rule  over  the  others.  Some  who  were  strong 
wanted  to  make  slaves  of  those  who  were  weak. 
Some  broke  down  the  fruit  trees  in  the  woods,  lest 
others  should  eat  of  the  fruit.  Some,  for  mere 
sport,  hunted  the  timid  animals  which  had  always 
been  their  friends.  Some  even  killed  these  poor 
creatures  and  ate  their  flesh  for  food. 

At  last,  instead  of  everybody  being  everybody's 
friend,  everybody  was  everybody's  foe. 

So,  in  all  the  world,  instead  of  peace,  there  was 
war ;  instead  of  plenty,  there  was  starvation ;  instead 
of  innocence,  there  was  crime ;  and  instead  of  hap- 
piness, there  was  misery. 

And  that  was  the  way  in  which  Jupiter  made 
himself  so  mighty;  and  that  was  the  way  m  which 
the  Golden  Age  came  to  an  end. 


THE   STORY   OF    PROMETHEUS. 

I.     HOW    FIRE    WAS    GIVEN    TO    MEN. 

IN  those  old,  old  times,  there  lived  two  brothers 
who  were  not  like  other  men,  nor  yet  like  those 
Mighty  Ones  who  lived  upon  the  mountain  top. 
They  were  the  sons  of  one  of  those  Titans  who  had 
fought  against  Jupiter  and  been  sent  in  chains  to 
the  strong  prison-house  of  the  Lower  World. 

The  name  of  the  elder  of  these  brothers  was 
Prometheus,  or  Forethought;  for  he  was  always 
thinking  of  the  future  and  making  things  ready 
for  what  might  happen  to-morrow,  or  next  week, 
or  next  year,  or  it  may  be  in  a  hundred  years  to 
come.  The  younger  was  called  Epimetheus,  or 
Afterthought;  for  he  was  always  so  busy  thinking 
of  yesterday,  or  last  year,  or  a  hundred  years  ago, 
that  he  had  no  care  at  all  for  what  might  come 
to  pass  after  a  while. 

For  some  cause  Jupiter  had  not  sent  these 
brothers  to  prison  with  the  rest  of  the  Titans. 

Prometheus  did  not  care  to  live  amid  the  clouds 

14 


is 

on  the  mountain  top.  He  was  too  busy  for  that. 
While  the  Mighty  Folk  were  spending  their  time 
in  idleness,  drinking  nectar  and  eating  ambrosia,  he 
was  intent  upon  plans  for  making  the  world  wiser 
and  better  than  it  had  ever  been  before. 

He  went  out  amongst  men  to  live  with  them 
and  help  them ;  for  his  heart  was  filled  with  sad- 
ness when  he  found  that  they  were  no  longer 
happy  as  they  had  been  during  the  golden  days 
when  Saturn  was  king.  Ah,  how  very  poor  and 
wretched  they  were !  He  found  them  living  in 
caves  and  in  holes  of  the  earth,  shivering  with  the 
cold  because  there  was  no  fire,  dying  of  starvation, 
hunted  by  wild  beasts  and  by  one  another  —  the 
most  miserable  of  all  living  creatures. 

"  If  they  only  had  fire,"  said  Prometheus  to  him- 
self, "  they  could  at  least  warm  themselves  and  cook 
their  food;  and  after  a  while  they  could  learn  to 
make  tools  and  build  themselves  houses.  Without 
fire,  they  are  worse  off  than  the  beasts." 

Then  he  Went  boldly  to  Jupiter  and  begged  him 
to  give  fire  to  men,  that  so  they  might  have  a  little 
comfort  through  the  long,  dreary  months  of  winter. 

"  Not  a  spark  will  I  give,"  said  Jupiter.  "  No, 
indeed !  Why,  if  men  had  fire  they  might  become 
strong  and  wise  like  ourselves,  and  after  a  while 
they  would  drive  us  out  of  our  kingdom.  Let  them 


16 

shiver  with  cold,  and  let  them  live  like  the  beasts. 
It  is  best  for  them  to  be  poor  and  ignorant,  that 
so  we  Mighty  Ones  may  thrive  and  be  happy." 

Prometheus  made  no  answer;  but  he  had  set  his 
heart  on  helping  mankind,  and  he  did  not  give  up. 
He  turned  away,  and  left  Jupiter  and  his  mighty 
company  forever. 

As  he  was  walking  by  the  shore  of  the  sea  he 
found  a  reed,  or,  as  some  say,  a  tall  stalk  of  fennel, 
growing;  and  when  he  had  broken  it  off  he  saw 
that  its  hollow  center  was  filled  with  a  dry,  soft 
pith  which  would  burn  slowly  and  keep  on  fire  a 
long  time.  He  took  the  long  stalk  in  his  hands, 
and  started  with  it  towards  the  dwelling  of  the  sun 
in  the  far  east. 

"  Mankind  shall  have  fire  in  spite  of  the  tyrant 
who  sits  on  the  mountain  top,"  he  said. 

He  reached  the  place  of  the  sun  in  the  early 
morning  just  as  the  glowing,  golden  orb  was  rising 
from  the  earth  and  beginning  his  daily  journey 
through  the  sky.  He  touched  the  end  of  the  long- 
reed  to  the  flames,  and  the  dry  pith  caught  on  fire 
and  burned  slowly.  Then  he  turned  and  hastened 
back  to  his  own  land,  carrying  with  him  the  precious 
spark  hidden  in  the  hollow  center  of  the  plant. 

He  called  some  of  the  shivering  men  from  their 
caves  and  built  a  fire  for  them,  and  showed  them 


17 

how  to  warm  themselves  by  it  and  how  to  build 
other  fires  from  the  coals.  Soon  there  was  a  cheer- 
ful blaze  in  every  rude  home  in  the  land,  and  men 
and  women  gathered  round  it  and  were  warm  and 
happy,  and  thankful  to  Prometheus  for  the  wonder- 
ful gift  which  he  had  brought  to  them  from  the  sun. 

It  was  not  long  until  they  learned  to  cook  their 
food  and  so  to  eat  like  men  instead  of  like  beasts. 
They  began  at  once  to  leave  off  their  wild  and  savage 
habits;  and  instead  of  lurking  in  the  dark  places  of 
the  world,  they  came  out  into  the  open  air  and  the 
bright  sunlight,  and  were  glad  because  life  had  been 
given  to  them. 

After  that,  Prometheus  taught  them,  little  by 
little,  a  thousand  things.  He  showed  them  how  to 
build  houses  of  wood  and  stone,  and  how  to  tame 
sheep  and  cattle  and  make  them  useful,  and  how 
to  plow  and  sow  and  reap,  and  how  to  protect 
themselves  from  the  storms  of  winter  and  the 
beasts  of  the  woods.  Then  he  showed  them  how 
to  dig  in  the  earth  for  copper  and  iron,  and  how 
to  melt  the  ore,  and  how  to  hammer  it  into  shape 
and  fashion  from  it  the  tools  and  weapons  which 
they  needed  in  peace  and  war ;  and  when  he  saw 
how  happy  the  world  was  becoming  he  cried  out : 

"  A  new  Golden  Age  shall  come,  brighter  and 
better  by  far  than  the  old !  " 

OLD   GREEK    STORIES  —  2 


i8 


II.     HOW    DISEASES    AND    CARES    CAME    AMONG    MEN. 

Things  might  have  gone  on  very  happily  indeed, 
and  the  Golden  Age  might  really  have  come  again, 
had  it  not  been  for  Jupiter.  But  one  day,  when  he 
chanced  to  look  down  upon  the  earth,  he  saw  the 
fires  burning,  and  the  people  living  in  houses,  and 
the  flocks  feeding  on  the  hills,  and  the  grain  ripen- 
ing in  the  fields,  and  this  made  him  very  angry. 

"  Who  has  done  all  this  ?  "  he  asked. 

And  some  one  answered,  "  Prometheus !  " 

"What!  that  young  Titan!"  he  cried.  "Well, 
I  will  punish  him  in  a  way  that  will  make  him 
wish  I  had  shut  him*  up  in  the  prison-house  with 
his  kinsfolk.  But  as  for  those  puny  men,  let  them 
keep  their  fire.  I  will  make  them  ten  times  more 
miserable  than  they  were  before  they  had  it." 

Of  course  it  would  be  easy  enough  to  deal  with 
Prometheus  at  any  time,  and  so  Jupiter  was  in  no 
great  haste  about  it.  He  made  up  his  mind  to 
distress  mankind  first;  and  he  thought  of  a  plan 
for  doing  it  in  a  very  strange,  roundabout  way. 

In  the  first  place,  he  ordered  his  blacksmith 
Vulcan,  whose  forge  was  in  the  crater  of  a  burning 
mountain,  to  take  a  lump  of  clay  which  he  gave 
him,  and  mold  it  into  the  form  of  a  woman. 
Vulcan  did  as  he  was  bidden;  and  when  he  had 


'9 

finished  the  image,  he  carried  it  up  to  Jupiter,  who 
was  sitting  among  the  clouds  with  all  the  Mighty 
Folk  around  him.  It  was  nothing  but  a  mere 
lifeless  body,  but  the  great  blacksmith  had  given  it 
a  form  more  perfect  than  that  of  any  statue  that 
has  ever  been  made. 

"  Come  now !  "  said  Jupiter,  "  let  us  all  give  some 
goodly  gift  to  this  woman;"  and  he  began  by 
giving  her  life. 

Then  the  others  came  in  their  turn,  each  with  a 
gift  for  the  marvelous  creature.  One  gave  her 
beauty ;  and  another  a  pleasant  voice ;  and  another 
good  manners;  and  another  a  kind  heart;-  and 
another  skill  in  many  arts ;  and,  lastly,  some  one 
gave  her  curiosity.  Then  they  called  her  Pandora, 
which  means  the  all-gifted,  because  she  had  re- 
ceived gifts  from  them  all. 

Pandora  was  so  beautiful  and  so  wondrously 
gifted  that  no  one  could  help  loving  her.  When 
the  Mighty  Folk  had  admired  her  for  a  time,  they 
gave  her  to  Mercury,  the  light-footed ;  and  he  led 
her  down  the  mountain  side  to  the  place  where 
Prometheus  and  his  brother  were  living  and  toiling 
for  the  good  of  mankind.  He  met  Epimetheus 
first,  and  said  to  him : 

"  Epimetheus,  here  is  a  beautiful  woman,  whom 
Jupiter  has  sent  to  you  to  be  your  wife." 


' '  EPIMETHEUS,  HERE  is  A  BEAUTIFUL  WOMAN/ 


21 

Prometheus  had  often  warned  his  brother  to 
beware  of  any  gift  that  Jupiter  might  send,  for  he 
knew  that  the  mighty  tyrant  could  not  be  trusted; 
but  when  Epimetheus  saw  Pandora,  how  lovely  and 
wise  she  was,  he  forgot  all  warnings,  and  took  her 
home  to  live  with  him  and  be  his  wife. 

Pandora  was  very  happy  in  her  new  home;  and 
even  Prometheus,  when  he  saw  her,  was  pleased 
with  her  loveliness.  She  had  brought  with  her  a 
golden  casket,  which  Jupiter  had  given  her  at 
parting,  and  which  he  had  told  her  held  many 
precious  things ;  but  wise  Athena,  the  queen  of 
the  air,  had  warned  her  never,  never  to  open  it, 
nor  look  at  the  things  inside. 

"  They  must  be  jewels,"  she  said  to  herself;  and 
then  she  thought  of  how  they  would  add  to  her 
beauty  if  only  she  could  wear  them.  "  Why  did 
Jupiter  give  them  to  me  if  I  should  never  use  them, 
nor  so  much  as  look  at  them? "  she  asked. 

The  more  she  thought  about  the  golden  casket, 
the  more  curious  she  was  to  see  what  was  in  it ; 
and  every  day  she  took  it  down  from  its  shelf  and 
felt  of  the  lid,  and  tried  to  peer  inside  of  it  without 
opening  it. 

"  Why  should  I  care  for  what  Athena  told  me  ? " 
she  said  at  last.  "  She  is  not  beautiful,  and  jewels 
would  be  of  no  use  to  her.  I  think  that  I  will 


22 


look  at  them,  at  any  rate.  Athena  will  never 
know.  Nobody  else  will  ever  know." 

She  opened  the  lid  a  very  little,  just  to  peep 
inside.  All  at  once  there  was  a  whirring,  rustling 
sound,  and  before  she  could  shut  it  down  again,  out 
flew  ten  thousand  strange  creatures  with  death-like 
faces  and  gaunt  and  dreadful  forms,  such  as  nobody 
in  all  the  world  had  ever  seen.  They  fluttered  for 
a  little  while  about  the  room,  and  then  flew  away  to 
find  dwelling-places  wherever  there  were  homes  of 
men.  They  were  diseases  and  cares  ;  for  up  to  that 
time  mankind  had  not  had  any  kind  of  sickness, 
nor  felt  any  troubles  of  mind,  nor  worried  about 
what  the  morrow  might  bring  forth. 

These  creatures  flew  into  every  house,  and, 
without  any  one  seeing  them,  nestled  down  in  the 
bosoms  of  men  and  women  and  children,  and  put 
an  end  to  all  their  joy;  and  ever  since  that  day 
they  have  been  flitting  and  creeping,  unseen  and 
unheard,  over  all  the  land,  bringing  pain  and  sor- 
row and  death  into  every  household. 

If  Pandora  had  not  shut  down  the  lid  so  quickly, 
things  would  have  gone  much  worse.  But  she 
closed  it  just  in  time  to  keep  the  last  of  the  evil 
creatures  from  getting  out.  The  name  of  this  crea- 
ture was  Foreboding,  and  although  he  was  almost 
•half  out  of  the  casket,  Pandora  pushed  him  back 


23 

and  shut  the  lid  so  tight  that  he  could  never  escape. 
If  he  had  gone  out  into  the  world,  men  would  have 
known  from  childhood  just  what  troubles  were 
going  to  come  to  them  every  day  of  their  lives,  and 
they  would  never  have  had  any  joy  or  hope  so  long 
as  they  lived. 

And  this  was  the  way  in  which  Jupiter  sought  to 
make  mankind  more  miserable  than  they  had  been 
before  Prometheus  had  befriended  them. 


III.     HOW    THE    FRIEND    OF    MEN    WAS    PUNISHED. 

The  next  thing  that  Jupiter  did  was  to  punish 
Prometheus  for  stealing  fire  from  the  sun.  He 
bade  two  of  his  servants,  whose  names  were 
Strength  and  Force,  to  seize  the  bold  Titan  and 
carry  him  to  the  topmost  peak  of  the  Caucasus 
Mountains.  Then  he  sent  the  blacksmith  Vulcan 
to  bind  him  with  iron  chains  and  fetter  him  to  the 
rocks  so  that  he  could  not  move  hand  or  foot. 

Vulcan  did  not  like  to  do  this,  for  he  was  a  friend 
of  Prometheus,  and  yet  he  did  not  dare  to  disobey. 
And  so  the  great  friend  of  men,  who  had  given 
them  firo  and  lifted  them  out  of  their  wretchedness 
and  shovvn  them  how  to  live,  was  chained  to  the 
mountain  peak;  and  there  he  hung,  with  the  storm- 
winds  whistling  always  around  him,  and  the  pitiless 


24 

hail  beating  in  his  face,  and  fierce  eagles  shrieking 
in  his  ears  and  tearing  his  body  with  their  cruel 
claws.  Yet  he  bore  all  his  sufferings  without  a 
groan,  and  never  would  he  beg  for  mercy  or  say 
that  he  was  sorry  for  what  he  had  done. 

Year  after  year,  and  age  after  age,  Prometheus 
hung  there.  Now  and  then  old  Helios,  the  driver 
of  the  sun  car,  would  look  down  upon  him  and 
smile;  now  and  then  flocks  of  birds  would  bring 
him  messages  from  far-off  lands;  once  the  ocean 
nymphs  came  and  sang  wonderful  songs  in  his 
hearing;  and  oftentimes  men  looked  up  to  him 
with  pitying  eyes,  and  cried  out  against  the  tyrant 
who  had  placed  him  there. 

Then,  once  upon  a  time,  a  white  cow  passed 
that  way,  —  a  strangely  beautiful  cow,  with  large 
sad  eyes  and  a  face  that  seemed  almost  human. 
She  stopped  and  looked  up  at  the  cold  gray  peak 
and  the  giant  body  which  was  chained  there.  Pro- 
metheus saw  her  and  spoke  to  her  kindly : 

"I  know  who  you  are,"  he  said.  "You  are  lo 
who  was  once  a  fair  and  happy  maiden  in  distant 
Argos ;  and  now,  because  of  the  tyrant  Jupiter  and 
his  jealous  queen,  you  are  doomed  to  wander  from 
land  to  land  in  that  unhuman  form.  But  do  not 
lose  hope.  Go  on  to  the  southward  and  then  to 
the  west ;  and  after  many  days  you  shall  come  to 


25 

the  great  river  Nile.  There  you  shall  again 
become  a  maiden,  but  fairer  and  more  beautiful 
than  before ;  and  jou  shall  become  the  wife  of 
the  king  of  that  land,  and  shall  give  birth  to  a 
son,  from  whom  shall  spring  the  hero  who  will 
break  my  chains  and  set  me  free.  As  for  me,  I 
bide  in  patience  the  day  which  not  even  Jupiter 
can  hasten  or  delay.  Farewell !  " 

Poor  lo  would  have  spoken,  but  she  could  not. 
Her  sorrowful  eyes  looked  once  more  at  the  suffer- 
ing hero  on  the  peak,  and  then  she  turned  and 
began  her  long  and  tiresome  journey  to  the  land 
of  the  Nile. 

Ages  passed,  and  at  last  a  great  hero  whose 
name  was  Hercules  came  to  the  land  of  the 
Caucasus.  In  spite  of  Jupiter's  dread  thunderbolts 
and  fearful  storms  of  snow  and  sleet,  he  climbed 
the  rugged  mountain  peak;  he  slew  the  fierce 
eagles  that  had  so  long  tormented  the  helpless 
prisoner  on  those  craggy  heights ;  and  with  a 
mighty  blow,  he  broke  the  fetters  of  Prometheus 
and  set  the  grand  old  hero  free. 

"  I  knew  that  you  would  come/'  said  Prometheus. 
"  Ten  generations  ago  I  spoke  of  you  to  lo,  who 
was  afterwards  the  queen  of  the  land  of  the  Nile." 

"  And  lo,"  said  Hercules,  "  was  the  mother  of  the 
race  from  which  I  am  sprung." 


THE   FLOOD. 

IN  those  very  early  times  there  was  a  man  named 
Deucalion,  and  he  was  the  son  of  Prometheus. 
He  was  only  a  common  man  and  not  a  Titan  like 
his  great  father,  and  yet  he  was  known  far  and  wide 
for  his  good  deeds  and  the  uprightness  of  his  life. 
His  wife's  name  was  Pyrrha,  and  she  was  one  of 
the  fairest  of  the  daughters  of  men. 

After  Jupiter  had  bound  Prometheus  on  Mount 
Caucasus  and  had  sent  diseases  and  cares  into  the 
worldf  men  became  very,  very  wicked.  They  no 
longer  built  houses  and  tended  their  flocks  and 
lived  together  in  peace ;  but  every  man  was  at  war 
with  his  neighbor,  and  there  was  no  law  nor  safety 
in  all  the  land.  Things  were  in  much  worse  case  now 
than  they  had  been  before  Prometheus  had  come 
among  men,  and  that  was  just  what  Jupiter  wanted. 
But  as  the  world  became  wickeder  and  wickeder 
every  day,  he  began  to  grow  weary  of  seeing  so 
much  bloodshed  and  of  hearing  the  cries  of  the 

oppressed  and  the  poor. 

26 


27 

"  These  men,"  "he  said  to  his  mighty  company, 
"are  nothing  but  a  source  of  trouble.  When  they 
were  good  and  happy,  we  felt  afraid  lest  they  should 
become  greater  than  ourselves ;  and  now  they 
are  so  terribly  wicked  that  we  are  in  worse  danger 
than  before.  There  is  only  one  thing  to  be  done 
with  them,  and  that  is  to  destroy  them  every  one." 

So  he  sent  a  great  rain-storm  upon  the  earth, 
and  it  rained  day  and  night  for  a  long  time;  and 
the  sea  was  filled  to  the  brim,  and  the  water  ran  over 
the  land  and  covered  first  the  plains  and  then  the 
forests  and  then  the  hills.  But  men  kept  on  fight- 
ing and  robbing,  even  while  the  rain  was  pouring 
down  and  the  sea  was  coming  up  over  the  land. 

No  one  but  Deucalion,  the  son  of  Prometheus, 
was  ready  for  such  a  storm.  He  had  never  joined 
in  any  of  the  wrong  doings  of  those  around  him, 
and  had  often  told  them  that  unless  they  left  off 
their  evil  ways  there  would  be  a  day  of  reckoning 
in  the  end.  Once  every  year  he  had  gone  to  the 
land  of  the  Caucasus  to  talk  with  his  father,  who 
was  hanging  chained  to  the  mountain  peak. 

"  The  day  is  coming,"  said  Prometheus,  "  when 
Jupiter  will  send  a  flood  to  destroy  mankind  from  the 
earth.  Be  sure  that  you  are  ready  for  it,  my  son." 

And  so  when  the  rain  began  to  fall,,  Deucalion 
drew  from  its  shelter  a  boat  which  he  had  built 


28 

for  just  such  a  time.  He  called  fair  Pyrrha,  his 
wife,  and  the  two  sat  in  the  boat  and  were  floated 
safely  on  the  rising  waters.  Day  and  night,  day 
and  night,  I  cannot  tell  how  long,  the  boat  drifted 
hither  and  thither.  The  tops  of  the  trees  were 
hidden  by  the  flood,  and  then  the  hills  and  then 
the  mountains ;  and  Deucalion  and  Pyrrha  could 
see  nothing f  anywhere  but  water,  water,  water  — 
and  they  knew  that  all  the  people  in  the  land  had 
been  drowned. 

After  a  while  the  rain  stopped  falling,  and  the 
clouds  cleared  away,  and  the  blue  sky  and  the 
golden  sun  came  out  overhead.  Then  the  water 
began  to  sink  very  fast  and  to  run  off  the  land 
towards  the  sea ;  and  early  the  very  next  day  the 
boat  was  drifted  high  upon  a  mountain  called 
Parnassus,  and  Deucalion  and  Pyrrha  stepped  out 
upon  the  dry  land.  After  that,  it  \vas  only  a  short 
time  until  the  whole  country  was  laid  bare,  and 
the  trees  shook  their  leafy  branches  in  the  wind, 
and  the  fields  were  carpeted  with  grass  and  flowers 
more  beautiful  than  in  the  days  before  the  flood. 

But  Deucalion  and  Pyrrha  were  very  sad,  for 
they  knew  that  they  were  the  only  persons  who 
were  left  alive  in  all  the  land.  At  last  they  started 
to  walk  down  the  mountain  side  towards  the  plain, 
wondering  what  would  become  of  them  now,  all 


29 

alone  as  they  were  in  the  wide  world.  While  they 
were  talking  and  trying  to  think  what  they  should 
do,  they  heard  a  voice  behind  them.  They  turned 
and  saw  a  noble  young  prince  standing  on  one  of 
the  rocks  above  them.  He  was  very  tall,  with  blue 
eyes  and  yellow  hair.  There  were  wings  on  his 
shoes  and  on  his  cap,  and  in  his  hands  he  bore  a 
staff  with  golden  serpents  twined  around  it.  They 
knew  at  once  that  he  was  Mercury,  the  swift  mes- 
senger of  the  Mighty  Ones,  and  they  waited  to 
hear  what  he  would  say. 

"  Is  there  anything  that  you  wish  ? "  he  asked. 
"  Tell  me,  and  you  shall  have  whatever  you  desire." 

"  We  should  like,  above  all  things,"  said  Deucalion, 
"  to  see  this  land  full  of  people  once  more ;  for 
without  neighbors  and  friends,  the  world  is  a  very 
lonely  place  indeed." 

"  Go  on  down  the  mountain,"  said  Mercury,  "  and 
as  you  go,  cast  the  bones  of  your  mother  over  your 
shoulders  behind  you ; "  and,  with  these  words,  he 
leaped  into  the  air  and  was  seen  no  more. 

"  What  did  he  mean  ?  "  asked  Pyrrha. 

"  Surely  I  do  not  know,"  said  Deucalion.  "  But 
let  us  think  a  moment.  Who  is  our  mother,  if  it 
is  not  the  Earth,  from  whom  all  living  things  have 
sprung  ?  And  yet  what  could  he  mean  by  the  bones 
of  our  mother  ?  " 


«'AS   THEY    WALKED   THEY   PICKED    UP   THE   LOOSE   STONES    IN   THEIR   WAY." 


"  Perhaps  he  meant  the  stones  of  the  earth,"  said 
Pyrrha.  "  Let  us  go  on  down  the  mountain,  and 
as  we  go,  let  us  pick  up  the  stones  in  our  path  and 
throw  them  over  our  shoulders  behind  us." 

"  It  is  rather  a  silly  thing  to  do,"  said  Deucalion ; 
"  and  yet  there  can  be  no  harm  in  it,  a:nd  we  shall 
see  what  will  happen." 

And  so  they  walked  on,  down  the  steep  slope  of 
Mount  Parnassus,  and  as  they  walked  they  picked 
up  the  loose  stones  in  their  way  and  cast  them 
over  their  shoulders  ;  and  strange  to  say,  the  stones 
which  Deucalion  threw  sprang  up  as  full-grown 
men,  strong,  and  handsome,  and  brave;  and  the 
stones  which  Pyrrha  threw  sprang  up  as  full- 
grown  women,  lovely  and  fair.  When  at  last  they  , 
reached  the  plain  they  found  themselves  at  the  head 
of  a  noble  company  of  human  beings,  all  eager  to 
serve  them. 

So  Deucalion  became  their  king,  and  he  set 
them  in  homes,  and  taught  them  how  to  till  the 
ground,  and  how  to  do  many  useful  things ;  and  the 
land  was  filled  with  people  who  were  happier  and 
far  better  than  those  who  had  dwelt  there  before 
the  flood.  And  they  named  the  country  Hellas, 
after  Hellen,  the  son  of  Deucalion  and  Pyrrha ; 
and  the  people  are  to  this  day  called  Hellenes. 

But  we  call  the  country  GREECE. 


THE   STORY   OF   IO. 

IN  the  town  of  Argos  there  lived  a  maiden 
named  lo.  She  was  so  fair  and  good  that  all  who 
knew  her  loved  her,  and  said  that  there  was  no  one 
like  her  in  the  whole  world.  When  Jupiter,  in  his 
home  in  the  clouds,  heard  of  her,  he  came  down  to 
Argos  to  see  her.  She  pleased  him  so  much,  and 
was  so  kind  and  wise,  that  he  came  back  the  next 
day  and  the  next  and  the  next ;  and  by  and  by  he 
stayed  in  Argos  all  the  time  so  that  he  might  be 
near  her.  She  did  not  know  who  he  was,  but 
thought  that  he  was  a  prince  from  some  far-off 
land;  for  he  came  in  the  guise  of  a  young  man, 
and  did  not  look  like  the  great  king  of  earth  and 
sky  that  he  was. 

But  Juno,  the  queen  who  lived  with  Jupiter  and 
shared  his  throne  in  the  midst  of  the  clouds,  did 
not  love  lo  at  all.  When  she  heard  why  Jupiter 
stayed  from  home  so  long,  she  made  up  her  mind 
to  do  the  fair  girl  all  the  harm  that  she  could ;  and 
one  day  she  went  down  to  Argos  to  try  what  could 
be  done. 

32 


33 

Jupiter  saw  her  while  she  was  yet  a  great  way 
off,  and  he  knew  why  she  had  come.  So,  to  save 
lo  from  her,  he  changed  the  maiden  to  a  white 
cow.  He  thought  that  when  Juno  had  gone  back 
home,  it  would  not  be  hard  to  give  lo  her  own 
form  again. 

But  when  the  queen  saw  the  cow,  she  knew  that 
it  was  lo. 

"  Oh,  what  a  fine  cow  you  have  there ! "  she 
said.  "  Give  her  to  me,  good  Jupiter,  give  her 
to  me!" 

Jupiter  did  not  like  to  do  this;  but  she  coaxed 
so  hard  that  <at  last  he  gave  up,  and  let  her  have 
the  cow  for  her  own.  He  thought  that  it  would 
not  be  long  till  he  could  get  her  away  from  the 
queen,  and  change  her  to  a  girl  once  more.  But 
Juno  was  too  wise  to  trust  him.  She  took  the 
cow  by  her  horns,  and  led  her  out  of  the  town. 

"  Now,  my  sweet  maid,"  she  said,  "  I  will  see  that 
you  stay  in  this  shape  as  long  as  you  live." 

Then  she  gave  the  cow  in  charge  of  a  strange 
watchman  named  Argus,  who  had,  not  two  eyes  only, 
as  you  and  I  have,  but  ten  times  ten.  And  Argus 
led  the  cow  to  a  grove,  and  tied  her  by  a  long  rope 
to  a  tree,  where  she  had  to  stand  and  eat  grass,  and 
cry,  "  Moo !  moo  ! "  from  morn  till  night ;  and  when 
the  sun  had  set,  and  it  was  dark,  she  lay  down  on 

OLD   GREEK   STORIES  —  3 


34 

the  cold  ground  and  wept,  and  cried,  "  Moo!  moo  1" 
till  she  fell  asleep. 

But  no  kind  friend  heard  her,  and  no  one  came 
to  help  her;  for  none  but  Jupiter  and  Juno  knew 
that  the  w^hite  cow  who  stood  in  the  grove  was  lo, 
whom  all  the  world  loved.  Day  in  and  day  out, 
Argus,  who  was  all  eyes,  sat  on  a  hill  close  by  and 
kept  watch ;  and  you  could  not  say  that  he  went 
to  sleep  at  all,  for  while  half  of  his  eyes  were  shut, 
the  other  half  were  wide  awake,  and  thus  they  slept 
and  watched  by  turns. 

Jupiter  was  grieved  when  he  saw  to  what  a  hard 
life  lo  had  been  doomed,  and  he  tried  to  think  of 
some  plan  to  set  her  free.  One  day  he  called  sly 
Mercury,  who  had  wings  on  his  shoes,  and  bade 
him  go  and  lead  the  cow  away  from  the  grove 
where  she  was  kept.  Mercury  went  down  and 
stood  near  the  foot  of  the  hill  where  Argus  sat,  and 
began  to  play  sweet  tunes  on  his  flute.  This  was 
just  what  the  strange  watchman  liked  to  hear;  and 
so  he  called  to  Mercury,  and  asked  him  to  come  up 
and  sit  by  his  side  and  play  still  other  tunes. 

Mercury  did  as  he  wished,  and  played  such 
strains  of  sweet  music  as  no  one  in  all  the  world 
has  heard  from  that  day  to  this.  And  as  he  played, 
queer  old  Argus  lay  down  upon  the  grass  and  lis- 
tened, and  thought  that  he  had  not  had  so  great  a 


35 

treat  in  all  his  life.  But  by  and  by  those  sweet 
sounds  wrapped  him  in  so  strange  a  spell  that  all 
his  eyes  closed  at  once,  and  he  fell  into  a  deep  sleep. 

This  was  just  what  Mercury  wished.  It  was  not 
a  brave  thing  to  do,  and  yet  he  drew  a  long,  sharp 
knife  from  his  belt  and  cut  off  the  head  of  poor 
Argus  while  he  slept.  Then  he  ran  down  the  hill 
to  loose  the  cow  and  lead  her  to  the  town. 

But  Juno  had  seen  him  kill  her  watchman,  and 
she  met  him  on  the  road.  She  cried  out  to'  him 
and  told  him  to  let  the  cow  go ;  and  her"  face  was 
so  full  of  wrath  that,  as  soon  as  he  saw  her,  he 
turned  and  fled,  and  left  poor  lo  to  her  fate. 

Juno  was  so  much  grieved  when  she  saw  Argus 
stretched  dead  in  the  grass  on  the  hilltop,  that  she 
took  his  hundred  eyes  and  set  them  in  the  tail  of  a 
peacock;  and  there  you  may  still  see  them  to  this  day. 

Then  she  found  a  great  gadfly,  as  big  as  a  bat, 
and  sent  it  to  buzz  in  the  white  cow's  ears,  and  to 
bite  her  and  sting  her  so  that  she  could  have  no 
rest  all  day  long.  Poor  lo  ran  from  place  to  place 
to  get  out  of  its  way ;  but  it  buzzed  and  buzzed,  and 
stung  and  stung,  till  she  was  wild  with  fright  and 
pain,  and  wished  that  she  were  dead.  Day  after 
day  she  ran,  now  through  the  thick  woods,  now  in 
the  long  grass  that  grew  on  the  treeless  plains,  and 
now  by  the  shore  of  the  sea. 


37 

By  and  by  she  came  to  a  narrow  neck  of  the  sea, 
arid,  since  the  land  on  the  other  side  looked  as 
though  she  might  find  rest  there,  she  leaped  into 
the  waves  and  swam  across ;  and  that  place  has 
been  called  Bosphorus  —  a  word  which  means  the 
Sea  of  the  Cow  —  from  that  time  till  now,  and 
you  will  find  it  so  marked  on  the  maps  which 
you  use  at  school.  Then  she  went  on  through  a 
strange  land  on  the  other  side,  but,  let  her  do  what 
she  would,  she  could  not  get  rid  of  the  gadfly. 

After  a  time  she  came  to  a  place  where  there 
were  high  mountains  with  snow-capped  peaks  which 
seemed  to  touch  the  sky.  There  she  stopped  to 
rest  a  while ;  and  she  looked  up  at  the  calm,  cold 
cliffs  above  her  and  wished  that  she  might  die 
where  all  was  so  grand  and  still.  But  as  she 
looked  she  saw  a  giant  form  stretched  upon  the 
rocks  midway  between  earth  and  sky,  and  she  knew 
at  once  that  it  was  Prometheus,  the  young  Titan, 
whom  Jupiter  had  chained  there  because  he  had 
given  fire  to  men. 

"  My  sufferings  are  not  so  great  as  his,"  she 
thought ;  and  her  eyes  were  filled  with  tears. 

Then  Prometheus  looked  down  and  spoke  to  her, 
and  his  voice  was  very  mild  and  kind. 

"  I  know  who  you  are,"  he  said ;  and  then  he  told 
her  not  to  lose  hope,  but  to  go  south  and  then  west, 


38 

and  she  would  by  and  by  find  a  place  in  which  to 
rest. 

She  would  have  thanked  him  if  she  could ;  but 
when  she  tried  to  speak  she  could  only  say,  u  Moo ! 
moo ! " 

Then  Prometheus  went  on  and  told  her  that 
the  time  would  come  when  she  should  be  given 
her  own  form  again,  and  that  she  should  live  to 
be  the  mother  of  a  race  of  heroes.  "  As  for 
me,"  said  he,  "  I  bide  the  time  in  patience,  for  I 
know  that  one  of  those  heroes  will  break  my 
chains  and  set  me  free.  Farewell ! " 

Then  lo,  with  a  brave  heart,  left  the  great  Titan 
and  journeyed,  as  he  had  told  her,  first  south  and 
then  west.  The  gadfly  was  worse  now  than  before, 
but  she  did  not  fear  it  half  so  much,  for  her  heart 
was  full  of  hope.  For  a  whole  year  she  wandered, 
and  at  last  she  came  to  the  land  of  Egypt  in  Africa. 
She  felt  so  tired  now  that  she  could  go  no  farther, 
and  so  she  lay  down  near  the  bank  of  the  great 
River  Nile  to  rest. 

All  this  time  Jupiter  might  have  helped  her  had 
he  not  been  so  much  afraid  of  Juno.  But  now  it 
so  chanced  that  when  the  poor  cow  lay  down  by 
the  bank  of  the  Nile,  Queen  Juno,  in  her  high  house 
in  the  clouds,  also  lay  down  to  take  a  nap.  As 
soon  as  she  was  sound  asleep,  Jupiter  like  a  flash 


39 

of  light  sped  over  the  sea  to  Egypt.  He  killed  the 
cruel  gadfly  and  threw  it  into  the  river.  Then  he 
stroked  the  cow's  head  with  his  hand,  and  the  cow 
was  seen  no  more  ;  but  in  her  place  stood  the  young 
girl  lo,  pale  and  frail,  but  fair  and  good  as  she  had 
been  in  her  old  home  in  the  town  of  Argos.  Jupiter 
said  not  a  word,  nor  even  showed  himself  to  the 
tired,  trembling  maiden.  He  hurried  back  with  all 
speed  to  his  high  home  in  the  clouds,  for  he  feared 
that  Juno  might  waken  and  find  out  what  he  had 
done. 

The  people  of  Egypt  were  kind  to  lo,  and  gave 
her  a  home  in  their  sunny  land  ;  and  by  and  by  the 
king  of  Egypt  asked  her  to  be  his  wife,  and  made 
her  his  queen ;  and  she  lived  a  long  and  happy  life 
in  his  marble  palace  on  the  bank  of  the  Nile.  Ages 
afterward,  the  great-grandson  of  the  great-grandson 
of  lo's  great-grandson  broke  the  chains  of  Pro- 
metheus and  set  that  mighty  friend  of  mankind 
free. 

The  name  of  the  hero  was  Hercules. 


THE   WONDERFUL   WEAVER. 

I.     THE    WARP. 

THERE  was  a  young  girl  in  Greece  whose  name 
was  Arachne.  Her  face  was  pale  but  fair,  and  her 
eyes  were  big  and  blue,  and  her  hair  was  long  and 
like  gold.  All  that  she  cared  to  do  from  morn  till 
noon  was  to  sit  in  the  sun  and  spin ;  and  all  that 
she  cared  to  do  from  noon  till  night  was  to  sit  in 
the  shade  and  weave. 

And  oh,  how  fine  and  fair  were  the  things  which 
she  wove  in  her  loom  !  Flax,  wool,  silk  —  she 
worked  with  them  all ;  and  when  they  came  from 
her  hands,  the  cloth  which  she  had  made  of  them 
was  so  thin  and  soft  and  bright  that  men  came 
from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  see  it  And  they 
said  that  cloth  so  rare  could  not  be  made  of  flax, 
or  wool,  or  silk,  but  that  the  warp  was  of  rays  of 
sunlight  and  the  woof  was  of  threads  of  gold. 

Then  as,  day  by  day,  the  girl  sat  in  the  sun  and 
span,  or  sat  in  the  shade  and  wove,  she  said :  "  In 
all  the  world  there  is  no  yarn  so  fine  as  mine,  and 

40 


* '  ARACHNE,  I  AM  ATHENA,  THE  QUEEN  OF  THE  AIR.'  " 


42 

in  all  the  world  there  is  no  cloth  so  soft  and 
smooth,  nor  silk  so  bright  and  rare." 

"  Who  taught  you  to  spin  and  weave  so  well  ?  " 
some  one  asked. 

"  No  one  taught  me,"  she  said.  "  I  learned  how 
to  do  it  as  I  sat  in  the  sun  and  the  shade ;  but  no 
one  showed  me." 

"  But  it  may  be  that  Athena,  the  queen  of  the 
air,  taught  you,  and  you  did  not  know  it." 

"  Athena,  the  queen  of  the  air?  Bah!"  said 
Arachne.  "  How  could  she  teach  me  ?  Can  she 
spin  such  skeins  of  yarn  as  these  ?  Can  she  weave 
goods  like  mine  ?  I  should  like  to  see  her  try.  I 
can  teach  her  a  thing  or  two." 

She  looked  up  and  saw  in  the  doorway  a  tall 
woman  wrapped  in  a  long  cloak.  Her  face  was 
fair  to-  see,  but  stern,  oh,  so  stern !  and  her  gray 
eyes  were  so  sharp  and  bright  that  Arachne  could 
not  meet  her  gaze. 

"Arachne,"  said  the  woman,  "  I  am  Athena,  the 
queen  of  the  air,  and  I  have  heard  your  boast. 
Do  you  still  mean  to  say  that  I  have  not  taught 
you  how  to  spin  and  weave  ?  " 

"  No  one  has  taught  me,"  said  Arachne ;  "  and 
I  thank  no  one  for  what  I  know;"  and  she 
stood  up,  straight  and  proud,  by  the  side  of 
her  loom. 


43 

"  And  do  you  still  think  that  you  can  spin  and 
weave  as  well  as  I  ?  "  said  Athena. 

Arachne's  cheeks  grew  pale,  but  she  said : 
"  Yes.  I  can  weave  as  well  as  you." 

"  Then  let  me  tell  you  what  we  will  do,"  said 
Athena.  "  Three  days  from  now  we  will  both 
weave ;  you  on  your  loom,  and  I  on  mine.  We 
will  ask  all  the  world  to  come  and  see  us;  and 
great  Jupiter,  who  sits  in  the  clouds,  shall  be  the 
judge.  And  if  your  work  is  best,  then  I  will 
weave  no  more  so  long  as  the  world  shall  last; 
but  if  my  work  is  best,  then  you  shall  never  use 
loom  or  spindle  or  distaff  again.  Do  you  agree 
to  this  ?  "  "  I  agree,"  said  Arachne. 

"  It  is  well,"  said  Athena.     And  she  was  gone. 


II.     THE    WOOF. 


When  the  time  came  for  the  contest  in  weaving, 
all  the  world  was  there  to  see  it,  and  great  Jupiter 
sat  among  the  clouds  and  looked  on. 

Arachne  had  set  up  her  loom  in  the  shade  of  a 
mulberry  tree,  where  butterflies  were  flitting  and 
grasshoppers  chirping  all  through  .the  livelong  day. 
But  Athena  had  set  up  her  loom  in  the  sky,  where 
the  breezes  were  blowing  and  the  summer  sun  was 
shining;  for  she  was  the  queen  of  the  air. 


44 

Then  Arachne  took  her  skeins  -of  finest  silk  and 
began  to  weave.  And  she  wove  a  web  of  marvel-, 
ous  beauty,  so  thin  and  light  that  it  would  float  in 
the  air,  and  yet  so  strong  that  it  could  hold  a  lion 
in  its  meshes ;  and  the  threads  of  warp  and  woof 
were  of  many  colors,  so  beautifully  arranged  and 
mingled  one  with  another  that  all  who  saw  were 
filled  with  delight. 

"  No  wonder  that  the  maiden  boasted  of  her 
skill/'  said  the  people. 

And  Jupiter  himself  nodded. 

Then  Athena  began  to  weave.  And  she  took 
of  the  sunbeams  that  gilded  the  mountain  top,  and 
of  the  snowy  fleece  of  the  summer  clouds,  and  of 
the  blue  ether  of  the  summer  sky,  and  of  the  bright 
green  of  the  summer  fields,  and  of  the  royal  purple 
of  the  autumn  woods,  —  and  what  do  you  suppose 
she  wove  ? 

The  web  which  she  wove  in  the  sky  was  full 
of  enchanting  pictures  of  flowers  and  gardens,  and 
of  castles  and  towers,  and  of  mountain  heights, 
and  of  men  and  beasts,  and  of  giants  and  dwarfs, 
and  of  the  njighty  beings  who  dwell  in  the  clouds 
with  Jupiter.  And  those  who  looked  upon  it  were 
so  filled  with  wonder  and  delight,  that  they  forgot 
all  about  the  beautiful  web  which  Arachne  had 
woven.  And  Arachne  herself  was  ashamed  and 


45 

afraid  when  she  saw  it;  and  she  hid  her  face  in 
her  hands  and  wept. 

"  Oh,  how  can  I  live,"  she  cried,  "  now  that  I 
must  never  again  use  loom  or  spindle  or  distaff  ? " 

And  she  kept  on,  weeping  and  weeping  and 
weeping,  and  saying,  "  How  can  I  live  ? " 

Then,  when  Athena  saw  that  the  poor  maiden 
would  never  have  any  joy  unless  she  were  allowed 
to  spin  and  weave,  she  took  pity  on  her  and  said : 

"  I  would  free  you  from  your  bargain  if  I  could, 
but  that  is  a  thing  which  no  one  can  do.  You 
must  hold  to  your  agreement  never  to  touch  loom 
or  spindle  again.  And  yet,  since  you  will  never  be 
happy  unless  you  can  spin  and  weave,  I  will  give 
you  a  new  form  so  that  you  can  carry  on  your  work 
with  neither  spindle  nor  loom." 

Then  she  touched  Arachne  with  the  tip  of  the 
spear  which  she  sometimes  carried  ;  and  the  maiden 
was  changed  at  once  into  a  nimble  spider,  which  ran 
into  a  shady  place  in  the  grass  and  began  merrily  to 
spin  and  weave  a  beautiful  web. 

I  have  heard  it  said  that  all  the  spiders  which 
have  been  in  the  world  since  then  are  the  children 
of  Arachne;  but  I  doubt  whether  this  be  true.  Yet, 
for  aught  I  know,  Arachne  still  lives  and  spins  and 
weaves ;  and  the  very  next  spider  that  you  see  may 
be  she  herself. 


THE    LORD    OF    THE    SILVER    BOW. 

I.     DELOS. 

LONG  before  you  or  I  or  anybody  else  can  remem- 
ber, there  lived  with  the  Mighty  Folk  on  the  moun- 
tain top  a  fair  and  gentle  lady  named  Leto.  So  fair 
and  gentle  was  she  that  Jupiter  loved  her  and  made 
her  his  wife.  But  when  Juno,  the  queen  of  earth 
and  sky,  heard  of  this,  she  was  very  angry ;  and  she 
drove  Leto  down  from  the  mountain  and  bade  all 
things  great  and  small  refuse  to  help  her.  So  Leto 
fled  like  a  wild  deer  from  land  to  land  and  could 
find  no  place  in  which  to  rest.  She  could  not  stop, 
for  then  the  ground  would  quake  under  her  feet, 
and  the  stones  would  cry  out,  u  Go  on !  go  on ! " 
and  birds  and  beasts  and  trees  and  men  would 
join  in  the  cry;  and  no  one  in  all  the  wide  land 
took  pity  on  her. 

One  day  she  came  to  the  sea,  and  as  she  fled  along 
the  beach  she  lifted  up  her  hands  and  called  aloud 
to  great  Neptune  to  help  her.  Neptune,  the  king 

46 


47 

of  the  sea,  heard  her  and  was  kind  to  her.  He  sent 
a  huge  fish,  called  a  dolphin,  to  bear  her  away  from 
the  cruel  land ;  and  the  fish,  with  Leto  sitting  on 
his  broad  back,  swam  through  the  waves  to  Delos, 
a  little  island  which  lay  floating  on  top  of  the  water 
like  a  boat.  There  the  gentle  lady  found  rest  and 
a  home;  for  the  place  belonged  to  Neptune,  and 
the  words  of  cruel  Juno  were  not  obeyed  there. 
Neptune  put  four  marble  pillars  under  the  island 
so  that  it  should  rest  firm  upon  them ;  and  then  he 
chained  it  fast,  with  great  chains  which  reached  to 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  so  that  the  waves  might 
never  move  it. 

By  and  by  twin  babes  were  born  to  Leto  in 
Delos.  One  was  a  boy  whom  she  called  Apollo, 
the  other  a  girl  whom  she  named  Artemis,  or 
Diana.  When  the  news  of  their  birth  was  carried 
to  Jupiter  and  the  Mighty  Folk  on  the  mountain 
top,  all  the  world  was  glad.  The  sun  danced  on  the 
waters,  and  singing  swans  flew  seven  times  round 
the  island  of  Delos.  The  moon  stooped  to  kiss  the 
babes  in  their  cradle;  and  Juno  forgot  her  anger, 
and  bade  all  things  on  the  earth  and  in  the  sky  be 
kind  to  Leto. 

The  two  children  grew  very  fast.  Apollo  be- 
came tall  and  strong  and  graceful ;  his  face  was 
as  bright  as  the  sunbeams;  and  he  carried  joy  and 


48 

gladness  with  him  wherever  he  went.  Jupiter  gave 
him  a  pair  of  swans  and  a  golden  chariot,  which  bore 
him  over  sea  and  land  wherever  he  wanted  to  go; 
and  he  gave  him  a  lyre  on  which  he  played  the 
sweetest  music  that  was  ever  heard,  and  a  silver 
bow  with  sharp  arrows  which  never  missed  the  mark. 
When  Apollo  went  out  into  the  world,  and  men 
came  to  know  about  him,  he  was  called  by  some  the 
Bringer  of  Light,  by  others  the  Master  of  Song, 
and  by  still  others  the  Lord  of  the  Silver  Bow. 

Diana  was  tall  and  graceful,  too,  and  very  hand- 
some. She  liked  to  wander  in  the  woods  with  her 
maids,  who  were  called  nymphs ;  she  took  kind  care 
of  the  timid  deer  and  the  helpless  creatures  which 
live  among  the  trees ;  and  she  delighted  in  hunting 
wolves  and  bears  and  other  savage  beasts.  She 
was  loved  and  feared  in  every  land,  and  Jupiter 
made  her  the  queen  of  the  green  woods  and  the 
chase. 

II.     DELPHI. 

"  Where  is  the  center  of  the  world  ?  " 
This  is  the  question  which  some  one  asked  Jupiter 
as  he  sat  in  his  golden  hall.  Of  course  the  mighty 
ruler  of  earth  and  sky  was  too  wise  to  be  puzzled 
by  so  simple  a  thing,  but  he  was  too  busy  to  answer 
it  at  once.  So  he  said: 


49 

"  Come  again  in  one  year  from  to-day,  and  I  will 
show  you  the  very  place." 

Then  Jupiter  took  two  swift  eagles  which  could 
fly  faster  than  the  storm-wind,  and  trained  them  till 
the  speed  of  the  one  was  the  same  as  that  of  the 
other.  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  said  to  his 
servants : 

"  Take  this  eagle  to  the  eastern  rim  of  the  earth, 
where  the  sun  rises  out  of  the  sea ;  and  carry  his 
fellow  to  the  far  west,  where  the  ocean  is  lost  in 
darkness  and  nothing  lies  beyond.  Then,  when  I 
give  you  the  sign,  loosen  both  at  the  same  moment." 

The  servants  did  as  they  were  bidden,  and 
carried  the  eagles  to  the  outermost  edges  of  the 
world.  Then  Jupiter  clapped  his  hands.  The 
lightning  flashed,  the  thunder  rolled,  and  the  two 
swift  birds  were  set  free.  One  of  them  flew  straight 
back  towards  the  west,  the  other  flew  straight  back 
towards  the  east;  and  no  arrow  ever  sped  faster 
from  the  bow  than  did  these  two  birds  from  the 
hands  of  those  who  had  held  them. 

On  and  on.  they  went  like  shooting  stars  rush- 
ing to  meet  each  other;  and  Jupiter  and  all  his 
mighty  company  sat  amid  the  clouds  and  watched 
their  flight.  Nearer  and  nearer  they  came,  but 
they  swerved  not  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left. 
Nearer  and  nearer  —  and  then  with  a  crash  like 

OLD    GREEK   STORIES  —  4 


50 

the  meeting  of  two  ships  at  sea,  the  eagles  came 
together  in  mid-air  and  fell  dead  to  the  ground. 

"  Who  asked  where  is  the  center  of  the  world?  " 
said  Jupiter.  "  The  spot  where  the  two  eagles  lie 
—  that  is  the  center  of  the  world." 

They  had  fallen  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  in 
Greece  which  men  have  ever  since  called  Parnassus. 

"  If  that  is  the  center  of  the  world,"  said  young 
Apollo,  "  then  I  will  make  my  home  there,  and 
I  will  build  a  house  in  that  place,  so  that  my 
light  may  be  seen  in  all  lands." 

So  Apollo  went  down  to  Parnassus,  and  looked 
about  for  a  spot  in  which  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  his  house.  The  mountain  itself  was  savage 
and  wild,  and  the  valley  below  it  was  lonely 
and  dark.  The  few  people  who  lived  there  kept 
themselves  hidden  among  the  rocks  as  if  in  dread 
of  some  great  danger.  They  told  Apollo  that 
near  the  foot  of  the  mountain  where  the  steep 
cliff  seemed  to  be  split  in  two  there  lived  a  huge 
serpent  called  the  Python.  This  serpent  often 
seized  sheep  and  cattle,  and  sometimes  even  men 
and  women  and  children,  and  carried  them  up  to 
his  dreadful  den  and  devoured  them. 

"  Can  no  one  kill  this  beast?  "  said  Apollo. 

And  they  said,  "  No  one;  and  we  and  our  chil- 
dren and  our  flocks  shall  all  be  slain  by  him." 


Then  Apollo  with  his  silver  bow  in  his  hands 
went  up  towards  the  place  where  the  Python  lay. 
The  monster  had  worn  great  paths  through  the 
grass  and  among  the  rocks,  and  his  lair  was  not 
hard  to  find.  When  he  caught  sight  of  Apollo,  he 
uncoiled  himself,  and  came  out  to  meet  him.  The 
bright  prince  saw  the  creature's  glaring  eyes  and 
blood-red  mouth,  and  heard  the  rush  of  his  scaly 
body  over  the  stones.  He  fitted  an  arrow  to  his 
bow,  and  stood  still.  The  Python  saw  that  his  foe 
was  no  common  man,  and  turned  to  flee.  Then 
the  arrow  sped  from  the  bow  —  and  the  monster 
was  dead. 

"  Here  I  will  build  my  house,"  said  Apollo. 

Close  to  the  foot  of  the  steep  cliff,  and  beneath 
the  spot  where  Jupiter's  eagles  had  fallen,  he  laid 
the  foundations;  and  soon  where  had  been  the  lair 
of  the  Python,  the  white  walls  of  Apollo's  temple 
arose  among  the  rocks.  Then  the  poor  people  of 
the  land  came  and  built  their  houses  near  by;  and 
Apollo  lived  among  them  many  years,  and  taught 
them  to  be  gentle  and  wise,  and  showed  them  how 
to  be  happy.  The  mountain  was  no  longer  savage 
and  wild,  but  was  a  place  of  music  and  song ;  the 
valley  was  no  longer  dark  and  lonely,  but  was  filled 
with  beauty  and  light. 

"  What  shall  we  call  our  city  ? "  the  people  asked. 


"Call  it  Delphi,  or  the  Dolphin,"  said  Apollo; 
"  for  it  was  a  dolphin  that  carried  my  mother  across 
the  sea." 


III.     DAPHNE. 


In  the  Vale  of  Tempe,  which  lies  far  north  of 
Delphi,  there  lived  a  young  girl  whose  name  was 
Daphne.  She  was  a  strange  child,  wild  and  shy  as 
a  fawn,  and  as  fleet  of  foot  as  the  deer  that  feed  on 
the  plains.  But  she  was  as  fair  and  good  as  a  day 
in  June,  and  none  could  know  her  but  to  love  her. 

Daphne  spent  the  most  of  her  time  in  the  fields 
and  woods,  with  the  birds  and  blossoms  and  trees ; 
and  she  liked  best  of  all  to  wander  along  the  banks 
of  the  River  Peneus,  and  listen  to  the  ripple  of  the 
water  as  it  flowed  among  the  reeds  or  over  the  shin- 
ing pebbles.  Very  often  she  would  sing  and  talk  to 
the  river  as  if  it  were  a  living  thing,  and  could  hear 
her ;  and  she  fancied  that  it  understood  what  she 
said,  and  that  it  whispered  many  a  wonderful  secret 
to  her  in  return.  The  good  people  who  knew  her 
best  said : 

"  She  is  the  child  of  the  river." 

"Yes,  dear  river,"  she  said,  "  let  me  be  your  child." 

The  river  smiled  and  answered  her  in  a  way 
which  she  alone  could  understand ;  and  always, 
after  that,  she  called  it  "  Father  Peneus." 


53 

One  day  when  the  sun  shone  warm,  and  the  air 
was  filled  with  the  perfume  of  flowers,  Daphne 
wandered  farther  away  from  the  river  than  she  had 
ever  gone  before.  She  passed  through  a  shady 
wood  and  climbed  a  hill,  from  the  top  of  which  she 
could  see  Father  Peneus  lying  white  and  clear  and 
smiling  in  the  valley  below.  Beyond  her  were  other 
hills,  and  then  the  green  slopes  and  wooded  top  of 
great  Mount  Ossa.  Ah,  if  she  could  only  climb  to 
the  summit  of  Ossa,  she  might  have  a  view  of  the 
sea,  and  of  other  mountains  close  by,  and  of  the  twin 
peaks  of  Mount  Parnassus,  far,  far  to  the  south ! 

"  Good-by,  Father  Peneus,"  she  said.  "  I  am  going 
to  climb  the  mountain  ;  but  I  will  come  back  soon." 

The  river  smiled,  and  Daphne  ran  onward,  climb- 
ing one  hill  after  another,  and  wondering  why  the 
great  mountain  seemed  still  so  far  away.  By  and 
by  she  came  to  the  foot  of  a  wooded  slope  where 
there  was  a  pretty  waterfall  and  the  ground  was 
bespangled  with  thousands  of  beautiful  flowers ; 
and  she  sat  down  there  a  moment  to  rest.  Then 
from  the  grove  on  the  hilltop  above  her,  came  the 
sound  of  the  loveliest  music  she  had  ever  heard. 
She  stood  up  and  listened.  Some  one  was  playing 
on  a  lyre,  and  some  one  was  singing.  She  was 
frightened;  and  still  the  music  was  so  charming 
that  she  could  not  run  away. 


54 

T1-  :.*,  all  at  once,  the  sound  ceased,  and  a  young 
rr.coi,  tail  and  fair  and  with  a  face  as  bright  as  the 
morning  sun5  came  down  the  hillside  towards  her. 

"  Daphne !  "  he  said ;  but  she  did  not  stop  to 
hear.  She  turned  and  fled  like  a  frightened  deer, 
back  towards  the  Vale  of  Tempe. 

"  Daphne  !  "  cried  the  young  man.  She  did  not 
know  that  it  was  Apollo,  the  Lord  of  the  Silver  Bow; 
she  only  knew  that  the  stranger  was  following  her, 
and  she  ran  as  fast  as  her  fleet  feet  could  carry  her. 
No  young  man  had  ever  spoken  to  her  before,  and 
the  sound  of  his  voice  filled  her  heart  with  fear. 

"She  is  the  fairest  maiden  that  I  ever  saw," 
said  Apollo  to  himself.  "  If  I  could  only  look  at 
her  face  again  and  speak  with  her,  how  happy  I 
should  be." 

Through  brake,  through  brier,  over  rocks  and 
the  trunks  of  fallen  trees,  down  rugged  slopes, 
across  mountain  streams,  leaping,  flying,  panting, 
Daphne  ran.  She  looked  not  once  behind  her,  but 
she  heard  the  swift  footsteps  of  Apollo  coming 
always  nearer;  she  heard  the  rattle  of  the  silver 
bow  which  hung  from  his  shoulders ;  she  heard  his 
very  breath,  he  was  so  close  to  her.  At  last  she 
was  in  the  valley  where  the  ground  was  smooth 
and  it  was  easier  running,  but  her  strength  was 
fast  leaving  her.  Right  before  her,  however,  lay 


SHE  TURNED   AND   FLED    LIKE   A   FRIGHTENED    DEER." 


56 

the  river,  white  and  smiling  in  the  sunlight.  She 
stretched  out  her  arms  and  cried: 

"  O  Father  Peneus,  save  me  ! " 

Then  it  seemed  as  though  the  river  rose  up  to 
meet  her.  The  air  was  filled  with  a  blinding  mist. 
For  a  moment  Apollo  lost  sight  of  the  fleeing 
maiden.  Then  he  saw  her  close  by  the  river's 
bank,  and  so  near  to  him  that  her  long  hair, 
streaming  behind  her,  brushed  his  cheek.  He 
thought  that  she  was  about  to  leap  into  the  rush- 
ing, roaring  waters,  and  he  reached  out  his  hands 
to  save  her.  But  it  was  not  the  fair,  timid  Daphne 
that  he  caught  in  his  arms;  it  was  the  trunk  of 
a  laurel  tree,  its  green  leaves  trembling  in  the 
breeze. 

"O  Daphne!  Daphne !"  he  cried,  "is  this  the 
way  in  which  the  river  saves  you?  Does  Father 
Peneus  turn  you  into  a  tree  to  keep  you  from  me  ? " 

Whether  Daphne  had  really  been  turned  into 
a  tree,  I  know  not;  nor  does  it  matter  now  — 
it  was  so  long  ago.  But  Apollo  believed  that  it 
was  so,  and  hence  he  made  a  wreath  of  the  laurel 
leaves  and  set  it  on  his  head  like  a  crown,  and 
said  that  he  would  wear  it  always  in  memory  of 
the  lovely  maiden.  And  ever  after  that,  the  laurel 
was  Apollo's  favorite  tree,  and,  even  to  this  day, 
poets  and  musicians  are  crowned  with  its  leaves. 


57 


IV.     DELUDED. 

Apollo  did  not  care  to  live  much  of  the  time 
with  his  mighty  kinsfolk  on  the  mountain  top. 
He  liked  better  to  go  about  from  place  to  place  and 
from  land  to  land,  seeing  people  at  their  work  and 
making  their  lives  happy.  When  men  first  saw 
his  fair  boyish  face  and  his  soft  white  hands,  they 
sneered  and  said  he  was  only  an  idle,  good-for- 
nothing  fellow.  But  when  they  heard  him  speak, 
they  were  so  charmed  that  they  stood,  spellbound, 
to  listen ;  and  ever  after  that  they  made  his  words 
their  law.  They  wondered  how  it  was  that  he  was 
so  wise ;  for  it  seemed  to  them  that  he  did  nothing 
but  stroll  about,  playing  on  his  wonderful  lyre  and 
looking  at  the  trees  and  blossoms  and.  birds  and 
bees.  But  when  any  of  them  were  sick  they  came 
to  him,  and  he  told  them  what  to  find  in  plants  or 
stones  or  brooks  that  would  heal  them  and  make 
them  strong  again.  They  noticed  that  he  did  not 
grow  old,  as  others  did,  but  that  he  was  always 
young  and  fair;  and,  even  after  he  had  gone  away, 
—  they  knew  not  how,  nor  whither,  —  it  seemed  as 
though  the  earth  were  a  brighter  and  sweeter  place 
to  live  in  than  it  had  been  before  his  coming. 

In  a  mountain  village  beyond  the  Vale  of  Tempe, 
there  lived  a  beautiful  lady  named  Coronis.  When 


58 

Apollo  saw  her,  he  loved  her  and  made  her  his 
wife ;  and  for  a  long  time  the  two  lived  together, 
and  were  happy.  By  and  by  a  babe  was  born  to 
them,  —  a  boy  with  the  most  wonderful  eyes  that 
anybody  ever  saw,  —  and  they  named  him  ^Escu- 
lapius.  Then  the  mountains  and  the  woods  were 
filled  with  the  music  of  Apollo's  lyre,  and  even  the 
Mighty  Folk  on  the  mountain  top  were  glad. 

One  day  Apollo  left  Coronis  and  her  child,  and 
went  on  a  journey  to  visit  his  favorite  home  on 
Mount  Parnassus. 

"  I  shall  hear  from  you  every  day,"  he  said  at  part- 
ing. "  The  crow  will  fly  swiftly  every  morning  to 
Parnassus,  and  tell  me  whether  you  and  the  child 
are  well,  and  what  you  are  doing  while  I  am  away." 

For  Apollo  had  a  pet  crow  which  was  very  wise, 
and  could  talk.  The  bird  was  not  black,  like  the 
crows  which  you  have  seen,  but  as  white  as  snow. 
Men  say  that  all  crows  were  white  until  that  time, 
but  I  doubt  whether  anybody  knows. 

Apollo's  crow  was  a  great  tattler,  and  did  not 
always  tell  the  truth.  It  would  see  the  beginning 
of  something,  and  then,  without  waiting  to  know 
anything  more  about  it,  would  hurry  off  and  make 
up  a  great  story  about  it.  But  there  was  no  one 
else  to  carry  news  from  Coronis  to  Apollo ;  for,  as 
you  know,  there  were  no  postmen  in  those  days, 


59 

and  there  was  not  a  telegraph  wire  in  the  whole 
world. 

All  went  well  for  several  days.  Every  morning 
the  white  bird  would  wing  its  way  over  hills  and 
plains  and  rivers  and  forests  until  it  found  Apollo, 
either  in  the  groves  on  the  top  of  Parnassus  or  in 
his  own  house  at  Delphi.  Then  it  would  alight 
upon  his  shoulder  and  say,  "  Coronis  is  well ! 
Coronis  is  well !  " 

One  day,  however,  it  had  a  different  story.  It 
came  much  earlier  than  ever  before,  and  seemed  to 
be  in  great  haste. 

"Cor — Cor  —  Cor!"  it  cried;  but  it  was  so  out 
of  breath  that  it  could  not  speak  her  whole  name. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ? "  cried  Apollo,  in  alarm. 
"  Has  anything  happened  to  Coronis  ?  Speak ! 
Tell  me  the  truth!" 

"  She  does  not  love  you !  she  does  not  love  you  ! " 
cried  the  crow.  "  I  saw  a  man  —  I  saw  a  man,  —  " 
and  then,  without  stopping  to  take  breath,  or  to 
finish  the  story,  it  flew  up  into  the  air,  and  hurried 
homeward  again. 

Apollo,  who  had  always  been  so  wise,  was  now 
almost  as  foolish  as  his  crow.  He  fancied  that 
Coronis  had  really  deserted  him  for  another  man, 
and  his  mind  was  filled  with  grief  and  rage.  With 
his  silver  bow  in  his  hands  he  started  at  once  for 


6o 

his  home.  He  did  not  stop  to  speak  with  any  one ; 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  learn  the  truth  for 
himself.  His  swan-team  and  his  golden  chariot 
were  not  at  hand  —  for,  now  that  he  was  living 
with  men,  he  must  travel  like  men.  The  journey 
had  to  be  made  on  foot,  and  it  was  no  short  journey 
in  those  days  when  there  were  no  roads.  But  after 
a  time,  he  came  to  the  village  where  he  had  lived 
happily  for  so  many  years,  and  soon  he  saw  his 
own  house  half  hidden  among  the  dark-leaved  olive 
trees.  In  another  minute  he  would  know  whether 
the  crow  had  told  him  the  truth. 

He  heard  the.  footsteps  of  some  one  running  in 
the  grove.  He  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  white  robe 
among  the  trees.  He  felt  sure  that  this  was  the 
man  whom  the  crow  had  seen,  and  that  he  was 
trying  to  run  away.  He  fitted  an  arrow  to  his  bow 
quickly.  He  drew  the  string.  Twang!  And  the 
arrow  which  never  missed  sped  like  a  flash  of  light 
through  the  air. 

Apollo  heard  a  sharp,  wild  cry  of  pain ;  and 
he  bounded  forward  through  the  grove.  There, 
stretched  dying  on  the  grass,  he  saw  his  dear 
Coronis.  She  had  seen  him  coming,  and  was 
running  gladly  to  greet  him,  when  the  cruel  arrow 
pierced  her  heart.  Apollo  was  overcome  with 
grief.  He  took  her  form  in  his  arms,  and  tried  to 


6i 

call  her  back  to  life  again.  But  it  was  all  in  vain. 
She  could  only  whisper  his  name,  and  then  she 
was  dead. 

A  moment  afterwards  the  crow  alighted  on  one 
of  the  trees  near  by.  "Cor — Cor — Cor,"  it  began; 
for  it  wanted  now  to  finish  its  story.  But  Apollo 
bade  it  begone. 

"Cursed  bird,"  he  cried,  "you  shall  never  say  a 
word  but '  Cor  —  Cor  —  Cor ! '  all  your  life ;  and  the 
feathers  of  which  you  are  so  proud  shall  no  longer 
be  white,  but  black  as  midnight." 

And  from  that  time  to  this,  as  you  very  well 
know,  all  crows  have  been  black ;  and  they  fly  from 
one  dead  tree  to  another,  always  crying,  "Cor  — 
cor  —  cor ! " 

V.     DISGRACED. 

Soon  after  this,  Apollo  took  the  little  ^Esculapius 
in  his  arms  and  carried  him  to  a  wise  old  school- 
master named  Cheiron,  who  lived  in  a  cave  under 
the  gray  cliffs  of  a  mountain  close  by  the  sea. 

"  Take  this  child,"  he  said,  "  and  teach  him  all  the 
lore  of  the  mountains,  the  woods,  and  the  fields. 
Teach  him  those  things  which  he  most  needs  to 
know  in  order  to  do  great  good  to  his  fellow-men." 

And  ^Esculapius  proved  to  be  a  wise  child,  gentle 
and  sweet  and  teachable ;  and  among  all  the  pupils 


62 

of  Cheiron  he  was  the  best  loved.  He  learned  the 
lore  of  the  mountains,  the  woods,  and  the  fields. 
He  found  out  what  virtue  there  is  in  herbs  and 
flowers  and  senseless  stones ;  and  he  studied  the 
habits  of  birds  and  beasts  and  men.  But  above  all 
he  became  skillful  in  dressing  wounds  and  healing 
diseases ;  and  to  this  day  physicians  remember  and 
honor  him  as  the  first  and  greatest  of  their  craft. 
When  he  grew  up  to  manhood  his  name  was  heard 
in  every  land,  and  people  blessed  him  because  he 
was  the  friend  of  life  and  the  foe  of  death. 

As  time  went  by,  ^Esculapius  cured  so  many 
people  and  saved  so  many  lives  that  Pluto,  the  pale- 
faced  king  of  the  Lower  World,  became  alarmed. 

"  I  shall  soon  have  nothing  to  do,"  he  said,  "  if  this 
physician  does  not  stop  keeping  people  away  from 
my  kingdom." 

And  he  sent  word  to  his  brother  Jupiter,  and 
complained  that  ^Esculapius  was  cheating  him  out 
of  what  was  his  due.  Great  Jupiter  listened  to  his 
complaint,  and  stood  up  among  the  storm  clouds, 
and  hurled  his  thunderbolts  at  ^Esculapius  until 
the  great  physician  was  cruelly  slain.  Then  all  the 
world  was  filled  with  grief,  and  even  the  beasts  and 
the  trees  and  the  stones  wept  because  the  friend  of 
life  was  no  more. 

When  Apollo  heard  of  the  death  of  his  son,  his 


63 

grief  and  wrath  were  terrible.  He  could  not  do 
anything  against  Jupiter  and  Pluto,  for  they  were 
stronger  than  he ;  but  he  went  down  into  the  smithy 
of  Vulcan,  underneath  the  smoking  mountains,  and 
slew  the  giant  smiths  who  had  made  the  deadly 
thunderbolts. 

Then  Jupiter,  in  his  turn,  was  angry,  and  ordered 
Apollo  to  come  before  him  and  be  punished  for 
what  he  had  done.  He  took  away  his  bow  and 
arrows  and  his  wonderful  lyre  and  all  his  beauty 
of  form  and  feature;  and  after  that  Jupiter  clothed 
him  in  the  rags  of  a  beggar  and  drove  him  down 
from  the  mountain,  and  told  him  that  he  should 
never  come  back  nor  be  himself  again  until  he 
had  served  some  man  a  whole  year  as  a  slave. 

And  so  Apollo  went  out,  alone  and  friendless, 
into  the  world ;  and  no  one  who  saw  him  would 
have  dreamed  that  he  was  once  the  sun-bright 
Lord  of  the  Silver  Bow. 


ADMETUS   AND  ALCESTIS. 

I.     THE    SLAVE. 

IN  a  little  town  north  of  Delphi,  and  not  very 
far  from  the  sea,  there  lived  a  young  man  named 
Admetus.  He  was  the  ruler  of  the  town,  and 
hence  was  called  its  king ;  but  his  kingdom  was 
so  small  that  he  could  walk  all  round  it  in  half 
a  day.  He  knew  the  name  of  every  man  and 
woman  and  child  in  the  town,  and  everybody  loved 
him  because  he  was  so  gentle  and  kind  and  at 
the  same  time  a  king. 

Late  one  day,  when  the  rain  was  falling  and 
the  wind  was  blowing  cold  from  the  mountains, 
a  beggar  came  to  his  door.  The  man  was  ragged 
and  dirty  and  half  starved,  and  Admetus  knew 
that  he  must  have  come  from  some  strange  land, 
for  in  his  own  country  no  one  ever  went  hungry. 
So  the  kind  king  took  him  into  the  house  and 
fed  him  ;  and  after  the  man  had  bathed  he  gave 
him  his  own  warm  cloak,  and  bade  the  servants 

make  a  place  for  him  to  sleep  through  the  night. 

64 


A:  , 
,         ,       - 

-     Of  — « 


In  the  morning  Admetus  asked  the  poor  man 
his  name,  but  he  shook  his  head  and  made  no 
answer.  Then  Admetus  asked  him  about  his 
home  and  his  country ;  and  all  that  the  man 
would  say  was :  "  Make  me  your  slave,  master ! 
Make  me  your  slave,  and  let  me  serve  you  for 
a  year." 

The  young  king  did  not  need  another  servant. 
But  he  saw  that  the  poorest  slave  in  the  land 
was  better  off  than  this  man,  and  so  he  took  pity 
on  him.  "  I  will  do  as  you  ask,"  he  said.  "  I  win 
give  you  a  home  and  food  and  clothing;  and  you 
shall  serve  me  and  be  my  slave  for  one  year." 

There  was  but  little  that  the  stranger  knew 
how  to  do,  and  so  he  was  sent  to  the  hills  to 
take  care  of  the  king's  sheep  and  goats.  For  a 
whole  year  he  tended  the  flocks,  finding  the  green- 
est pastures  and  the  freshest  water  for  them,  and 
keeping  the  wolves  away.  Admetus  was  very  kind 
to  him,  as  he  was  to  all  his  servants,  and  the 
food  and  clothing  which  he  gave  him  were  of 
the  best  in  the  land.  But  the  stranger  did  not 
tell  his  name  nor  say  anything  about  his  kindred 
or  his  home. 

When  a  year  and  a  day  had  passed,  it  so  hap- 
pened that  Admetus  was  walking  out  among  the 
hills  to  see  his  sheep.  All  at  once  the  sound  of 

OLD   GREEK   STORIES  —  5 


66 

music  fell  upon  his  ear.  It  was  no  such  music  as 
shepherds  play,  but  sweeter  and  richer  than  any 
he  had  ever  heard  before.  He  looked  to  see  where 
the  sound  came  from.  Ah !  who  was  that  sitting 
on  the  hilltop,  with  the  sheep  around  him  listening 
to  his  music?  Surely  it  was  not  his  shepherd? 

It  was  a  tall  and  handsome  young  man,  clad 
in  robes  lighter  and  finer  than  any  king  might 
wear.  His  face  was  as  bright  as  sunbeams,  and 
his  eyes  gleamed  like  lightning.  Upon  his  shoulder 
was  a  silver  bow,  from  his  belt  hung  a  quiver  of 
sharp  arrows,  and  in  his  hands  was  a  golden  lyre. 
Admetus  stood  still /and  wondered.  Then  the 
stranger  spoke  :  / 

"  King  Admetu^; '  he  said,  "  I  am  the  poor  beg- 
gar whom  you  fed  —  your  slave  to  whom  you  were 
so  kind.  I  have  served  you,  as  I  agreed,  for  a 
whole  year,  and  now  I  am  going  home.  Is  there 
anything  I  can  do  for  you  ? " 

"  Yes,"  said  Admetus  ;  "  tell  me  your  name." 

"  My  name  is  Apollo,"  was  the  answer.  "  Twelve 
months  ago  my  father,  mighty  Jupiter,  drove  me 
away  from  before  his  face  and  bade  me  go  out 
friendless  and  alone  upon  the  earth  ;  and  he  told 
me  that  I  should  not  turn  again  towards  home  until 
I  had  served  a  year  as  some  man's  slave.  I  came 
to  you,  ragged  and  half  starved,  and  you  fed  and 


67 

clothed  me ;  and  I  became  your  slave,  and  you 
were  as  kind  to  me  as  though  I  were  your  son. 
What  shall  I  give  you  to  reward  you  ? " 

"  Lord  of  the  Silver  Bow,"  said  the  king,  "  I  have 
all  that  any  man  can  want.  I  am  happy  in  the 
thought  that  I  have  been  of  some  help  to  you.  I 
can  ask  for  nothing  more." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Apollo;  ubut  if  the  time  should 
ever  come  when  you  need  my  help,  let  me  know." 

Then  the  bright  prince  walked  swiftly  away,  play- 
ing sweet  music  as  he  went;  and  Admetus  with 
glad  heart  returned  to  his  home. 

II.     THE    CHARIOT. 

From  the  place  where  Admetus  lived  it  was  only 
a  few  miles  to  lolcus,  a  rich  city  by  the  sea.  The 
king  of  lolcus  was  a  cruel  tyrant  named  Pelias,  who 
cared  for  nobody  in  all  the  world  but  himself.  This 
Pelias  had  a  daughter  named  Alcestis,  who  was  as 
fair  as  any  rose  in  June  and  so  gentle  and  good  that 
everybody  praised  her.  Many  a  prince  from  over 
the  sea  had  come  to  woo  Alcestis  for  his  wife ;  and 
the  noblest  young  men  in  Greece  had  tried  to  win 
her  favor.  But  there  was  only  one  to  whom  she 
would  listen,  and  that  was  her  young  neighbor, 
King  Admetus. 


68 

So  Admetus  went  before  gruff  King  Pelias  to 
ask  him  whether  he  might  wed  Alcestis. 

"  No  one  shall  have  my  daughter,"  said  the  old 
king,  "until  he  proves  that  he  is  worthy  to  be  my 
son-in-law.  If  you  want  her,  you  must  come  for 
her  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  a  lion  and  a  wild  boar. 
If  you  come  in  any  other  way,  she  shall  not  be 
your  wife."  And  Pelias  laughed,  and  drove  the 
young  man  out  of  his  palace. 

Admetus  went  away  feeling  very  sad ;  for  who 
had  ever  heard  of  harnessing  a  lion  and  a  wild 
boar  together  in  a  chariot?  The  bravest  man  in 
the  world  could  not  do  such  a  thing  as  that. 

As  he  walked  along  and  saw  the  sheep  and 
goats  feeding  on  the  hilltops  near  his  own  town, 
he  chanced  to  think  of  Apollo  and  of  the  last 
words  that  he  had  heard  him  say :  "  When  you 
need  my  help,  let  me  know." 

"  I  will  let  him  know,"  said  Admetus. 

Early  the  next  morning  he  built  an  altar  of 
stones  in  the  open  field;  and  when  he  had  killed 
the  fattest  goat  of  the  flock,  he  built  a  fire  on  the 
altar  and  laid  the  thighs  of  the  goat  in  the  flames. 
Then  when  the  smell  of  the  burning  flesh  went 
up  into  the  air,  he  lifted  his  hands  towards  the 
mountain  tops  and  called  to  Apollo. 

"  Lord  of  the  Silver  Bow,"  he  cried,  "  if  ever  I 


69 

have  shown  kindness  to  the  poor  and  the  dis- 
tressed, come  now  and  help  me.  For  I  am  in 
sore  need,  and  I  remember  your  promise." 

Hardly  was  he  done  speaking  when  bright 
Apollo,  bearing  his  bow  and  his  quiver  of  arrows, 
came  down  and  stood  before  him. 

"  Kindest  of  kings,"  he  said,  "tell  me  how  I  can 
help  you." 

Then  Admetus  told  him  all  about  the  fair 
Alcestis,  and  how  her  father  would  give  her  only 
to  the  man  who  should  come  for  her  in  a  chariot 
drawn  by  a  lion  and  a  wild  boar. 

"  Come  with  me,"  said  Apollo,  "  and  I  will  help 
you." 

Then  the  two  went  together  into  the  forest,  the 
Lord  of  the  Silver  Bow  leading  the  way.  Soon 
they  started  a  lion  from  its  lair  and  gave  chase 
to  it.  The  fleet-footed  Apollo  seized  the  beast  by 
its  mane,  and  although  it  howled  and  snapped  with 
its  fierce  jaws  it  did  not  touch  him.  Then  Adme- 
tus started  a  wild  boar  from  a  thicket.  Apollo 
gave  chase  to  it,  too,  making  the  lion  run  beside 
him  like  a  dog.  When  he  had  caught  the  boar, 
he  went  on  through  the  forest,  leading  the  two 
beasts,  one  with  his  right  hand,  the  other  with  his 
left ;  and  Admetus  followed  behind. 

It  was    not   yet   noon  when   they  came  to  the 


edge  of  the  woods  and  saw  the  sea  and  the  city 
of  lolcus  only  a  little  way  off.  A  golden  chariot 
stood  by  the  roadside  as  if  waiting  for  them,  and 
the  lion  and  the  boar  were  soon  harnessed  to  it. 
It  was  a  strange  team,  and  the  two  beasts  tried 
hard  to  fight  each  other;  but  Apollo  lashed  them 
with  a  whip  and  tamed  them  until  they  lost  their 
fierceness  and  were  ready  to  mind  the  rein.  Then 
Admetus  climbed  into  the  chariot;  and  Apollo 
stood  by  his  side  and  held  the  reins  and  the  whip, 
and  drove  into  lolcus. 

Old  King  Pelias  was  astonished  when  he  saw 
the  wonderful  chariot  and  the  glorious  charioteer; 
and  when  Admetus  again  asked  him  for  the  fair 
Alcestis,  he  could  not  refuse.  A  day  was  set  for 
the  wedding,  and  Apollo  drove  his  team  back  to 
the  forest  and  set  the  lion  and  the  wild  boar  free. 

And  so  Admetus  and  Alcestis  were  married, 
and  everybody  in  the  two  towns,  except  gruff 
old  King  Pelias,  was  glad.  Apollo  himself  was 
one  of  the  guests  at  the  wedding  feast,  and  he 
brought  a  present  for  the  young  bridegroom;  it 
was  a  promise  from  the  Mighty  Folk  upon  the 
mountain  top  that  if  Admetus  should  ever  be  sick 
and  in  danger  of  death,  he  might  become  well 
again  if  some  one  who  loved  him  would  die  for 
him. 


III.     THE    SHADOW    LEADER. 

Admetus  and  Alcestis  lived  together  happily  for 
a  long  time,  and  all  the  people  in  their  little  king- 
dom loved  and  blessed  them.  But  at  last  Admetus 
fell  sick,  and,  as  he  grew  worse  and  worse  every  day, 
all  hope  that  he  would  ever  get  well  was  lost.  Then 
those  who  loved  him  remembered  the  wedding  gift 
which  Apollo  had  given  him,  and  they  began  to  ask 
who  would  be  willing  to  die  in  his  stead. 

His  father  and  mother  were  very  old  and  could 
hope  to  live  but  a  short  time  at  best,  and  so  it  was 
thought  that  one  of  them  would  be  glad  to  give 
up  life  for  the  sake  of  their  son.  But  when  some 
one  asked  them  about  it,  they  shook  their  heads 
and  said  that  though  life  was  short  they  would 
cling  to  it  as  long  as  they  could. 

Then  his  brothers  and  sisters  were  asked  if  they 
would  die  for  Admetus,  but  they  loved  themselves 
better  than  their  brother,  and  turned  away  and  left 
him.  There  were  men  in  the  town  whom  he  had 
befriended  and  who  owed  their  lives  to  him ;  they 
would  have  done  everything  else  for  him,  but  this 
thing  .they  would  not  do. 

Now  while  all  were  shaking  their  heads  and  say- 
ing "  Not  I,"  the  beautiful  Alcestis  went  into  her 
own  room  and  called  to  Apollo  and  asked  that  she 


73 

might  give  up  her  life  to  save  her  husband.  Then 
without  a  thought  of  fear  she  lay  down  upon  her 
bed  and  closed  her  eyes ;  and  a  little  while  after- 
ward, when  her  maidens  came  into  the  room  they 
found  her  dead. 

At  the  very  same  time  Admetus  felt  his  sickness 
leave  him,  and  he  sprang  up  as  well  and  strong 
as  he  had  ever  been.  Wondering  how  it  was  that 
he  had  been  so  quickly  cured,  he  made  haste  to 
find  Alcestis  and  tell  her  the  good  news.  But 
when  he  went  into  her  room,  ,he  saw  her  lying 
lifeless  on  her  couch,  and  he  knew  at  once  that 
she  had  died  .for  him.  His  grief  was  so  great  that 
he  could  not  speak,  and  he  wished  that  death  had 
taken  him  and  spared  the  one  whom  he  loved. 

In  all  the  land  every  eye  was  wet  with  weeping 
for  Alcestis,  and  the  cries  of  the  mourners  were 
heard  in  every  house.  Admetus  sat  by  the  couch 
where  his  young  queen  lay,  and  held  her  cold  hand 
in  his  own.  The  day  passed,  and  night  came,  but 
he  would  not  leave  her.  All  through  the  dark 
hours  he  sat  there  alone.  The  morning  dawned, 
but  he  did  not  want  to  see  the  light. 

At  last  the  sun  began  to  rise  in  the  east,  and 
then  Admetus  was  surprised  to  feel  the  hand 
which  he  held  growing  warm.  He  saw  a  red 
tinge  coming  into  the  pale  cheeks  of  Alcestis. 


74 

A  moment  later  the  fair  lady  opened  her  eyes 
and  sat  up,  alive  and  well  and  glad. 

How  was  it  that  Alcestis  had  been  given  back  to 
life  ? 

When  she  died  and  left  her  body,  the  Shadow 
Leader,  who  knows  no  pity,  led  her,  as  he  led  all 
others,  to  the  cheerless  halls  of  Proserpine,  the 
queen  of  the  Lower  World. 

"  Who  is  this  who  comes  so  willingly  ?  "  asked  the 
pale-faced  queen. 

And  when  she  was  told  how  Alcestis,  so  young 
and  beautiful,  had  given  her  life  to  save  that  of  her 
husband,  she  was  moved  with  pity;  and  she  bade 
the  Shadow  Leader  take  her  back  again  to  the  joy 
and  sunlight  of  the  Upper  World. 

So  it  was  that  Alcestis  came  to  life ;  and  for 
many  years  she  and  Admetus  lived  in  their  little 
kingdom  not  far  from  the  sea ;  and  the  Mighty  Ones 
on  the  mountain  top  blessed  them ;  and,  at  last, 
when  they  had  become  very  old,  the  Shadow  Leader 
led  them  both  away  together. 


CADMUS   AND    EUROPA. 


I.     THE    BULL. 


IN  Asia  there  lived  a  king  who  had  two  children, 
a  boy  and  a  girl.  The  boy's  name  was  Cadmus, 
and  the  girl's  name  was  Europa.  The  king's  coun- 
try was  a  very  small  one.  He  could  stand  on  his 
house  top  and  see  the  whole  of  it.  On  one  side  of 
it  there  were  mountains,  and  on  the  other  side  was 
the  sea.  The  king  thought  that  it  was  the  center 
of  the  world,  and  he  did  not  know  much  about 
other  lands  and  people. 

Yet  he  was  very  happy  in  his  own  little  kingdom, 
and  very  fond  of  his  children.  And  he  had  good 
reason  to  be  proud  of  them ;  for  Cadmus  grew  up 
to  be  the  bravest  young  man  in  the  land,  and 
Europa  to  be  the  fairest  maiden  that  had  ever  been 
seen.  But  sad  days  came  to  them  all  at  last. 

One  morning  Europa  went  out  into  a  field  near 
the  seashore  to  pick  flowers.  Her  father's  cattle 
were  in  the  field,  grazing  among  the  sweet  clover. 
They  were  all  very  tame,  and  Europa  knew  every 
one  of  them  by  name.  The  herdsman  was  lying 

75 


76 

in  the  shade  under  a  tree,  trying  to  make'  music  on 
a  little  flute  of  straw.  Europa  had  played  in  the 
field  a  thousand  times  before,  and  no  one  had  ever 
thought  of  any  harm  befalling  her. 

That  morning  she  noticed  that  there  was  a 
strange  bull  with  the  herd.  He  was  very  large 
and  as  white  as  snow;  and  he  had  soft  brown 
eyes  which  somehow  made  him  look  very  gentle 
and  kind.  At  first  he  did  not  even  look  at 
Europa,  but  went  here  and  there,  eating  the 
tender  grass  which  grew  among  the  clover.  But 
when  she  had  gathered  her  apron  full  of  daisies 
and  buttercups,  he  came  slowly  towards  her.  She 
was  not  at  all  afraid  of  him ;  and  so  she  stopped 
to  look  at  him,  he  was  so  handsome.  He  came 
close  to  her,  and  rubbed  her  arm  with  his  nose 
to  say  "  Good-morning  !  " 

She  stroked  his  head  and  neck,  and  he  seemed 
much  pleased.  Then  she  made  a  wreath  of  daisies, 
and  hung  it  round  his  neck.  He  looked  at  her 
with  his  soft  kind  eyes,  and  seemed  to  thank  her ; 
and  in  a  little  while,  he  lay  down  among  the  clover. 
Europa  then  made  a  smaller  wreath,  and  climbed 
upon  his  back  to  twine  it  round  his  horns.  But  all 
at  once  he  sprang  up,  and  ran  away  so  swiftly  that 
Europa  could  not  help  herself.  She  did  not  dare 
to  jump  off  while  he  was  going  so  fast,  and  all  that 


77 

she  could  think  to  do  was  to  hold  fast  to  his  neck 
and  scream  very  loud. 

The  herdsman  under  the  tree  heard  her  scream, 
and  jumped  up  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  He 
saw  the  bull  running  with  her  towards  the  shore. 
He  ran  after  them  as  fast  as  he  could,  but  it  was 
of  no  use.  The  bull  leaped  into  the  sea,  and  swam 
swiftly  away,  with  poor  Europa  on  his  back.  Sev- 
eral other  people  had  seen  him,  and  now  they  ran 
to  tell  the  king.  Soon  the  whole  town  was  alarmed. 
Everybody  ran  out  to  the  shore  and  looked.  All 
that  could  be  seen  was  something  white  moving 
very  fast 'over  the  calm,  blue  water;  and  soon  it 
was  out  of  sight. 

The  king  sent  out  his  fastest  ship  to  try  to  over- 
take the  bull.  The  sailors  rowed  far  out  to  sea, 
much  farther  than  any  ship  had  ever  gone  before ; 
but  no  trace  of  Europa  could  be  found.  When 
they  came  back,  everybody  felt  that  there  was  no 
more  hope.  All  the  women  and  children  in  the 
town  wept  for  the  lost  Europa.  The  king  shut 
himself  up  in  his  house,  and  did  not  eat  nor  drink 
for  three  days.  Then  he  called  his  son  Cadmus, 
and  bade  him  take  a  ship  and  go  in  search  of  his 
sister;  and  he  told  him  that,  no  matter  what  dan- 
gers might  be  in  his  way,  he  must  not  come  back 
until  she  was  found. 


78 

Cadmus  was  glad  to  go.  He  chose  twenty  brave 
young  men  to  go  with  him,  and  set  sail  the  very 
next  day.  It  was  a  great  undertaking;  for  they 
were  to  pass  through  an  unknown  sea,  and  they 
did  not  know  what  lands  they  would  come  to. 
Indeed,  it  was  feared  that  they  would  never  come 
to  any  land  at  all.  Ships  did  not  dare  to  go  far 
from  the  shore  in  those  days.  But  Cadmus  and 
his  friends  were  not  afraid.  They  were  ready  to 
face  any  danger. 

In  a  few  days  they  came  to  a  large  island  called 
Cyprus.  Cadmus  went  on  shore,  and  tried  to  talk 
with  the  strange  people  who  lived  there.  They 
were  very  kind  to  him,  but  they  did  not  under- 
stand his  language.  At  last  he  made  out  by  signs 
to  tell  them  who  he  was,  and  to  ask  them  if  they 
had  seen  his  little  sister  Europa  or  the  white  bull 
that  had  carried  her  away.  They  shook  their  heads 
and  pointed  to  the  west. 

Then  the  young  men  sailed  on  in  their  little 
ship.  They  came  to  many  islands,  and  stopped  at 
every  one,  to  see  if  they  could  find  any  trace  of 
Europa;  but  they  heard  no  news  of  her  at  all. 
At  last,  they  came  to  the  country  which  we  now 
call  Greece.  It  was  a  new  country  then,  and  only 
a  few  people  lived  there,  and  Cadmus  soon  learned 
to  speak  their  language  well.  For  a  long  time  he 


79 

wandered  from  one  little  town  to  another,  always 
telling  the  story  of  his  lost  sister. 


II.     THE    PYTHIA. 

One  day  an  old  man  told  Cadmus  that  if  he 
would  go  to  Delphi  and  ask  the  Pythia,  perhaps 
she  could  tell  him  all  about  Europa.  Cadmus  had 
never  heard  of  Delphi  or  of  the  Pythia,  and  he 
asked  the  old  man  what  he  meant. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  said  the  man.  "  Delphi  is  a 
town,  built  near  the  foot  of  Mount  Parnassus,  at 
the  very  center  of  the  earth.  It  is  the  town  of 
Apollo,  the  Bringer  of  Light ;  and  there  is  a  temple 
there,  built  close  to  the  spot  where  Apollo  killed  a 
black  serpent,  many,  many  years  ago.  The  temple 
is  the  most  wonderful  place  in  the  world.  In  the 
middle  of  the  floor  there  is  a  wide  crack,  or  crevice; 
and  this  crevice  goes  down,  down  into  the  rock, 
nobody  knows  how  deep.  A  strange  odor  comes  up 
out  of  the  crevice ;  and  if  any  one  breathes  much 
of  it,  he  is  apt  to  fall  over  and  lose  his  senses." 

"  But  who  is  the  Pythia  that  you  spoke  about  ? " 
asked  Cadmus. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  said  the  old  man.  "  The  Pythia 
is  a  wise  woman,  who  lives  in  the  temple.  When 
anybody  asks  her  a  hard  question,  she  takes  a 


8o 

three-legged  stool,  called  a  tripod,  and  sets  it  over 
the  crevice  in  the  floor.  Then  she  sits  on  the  stool 
and  breathes  the  strange  odor ;  and  instead  of  los- 
ing her  senses  as  other  people  would  do,  she  talks 
with  Apollo ;  and  Apollo  tells  her  how  to  answer 
the  question.  Men  from  all  parts  of  the  world  go 
there  to  ask  about  things  which  they  would  like  to 
know.  The  temple  is  full  of  the  beautiful  and 
costly  gifts  which  they  have  brought  for  the 
Pythia.  Sometimes  she  answers  them  plainly,  and 
sometimes  she  answers  them  in  riddles ;  but  what 
she  says  always  comes  true." 

So  Cadmus  went  to  Delphi  to  ask  the  Pythia 
about  his  lost  sister.  The  wise  woman  was  very 
kind  to  him ;  and  when  he  had  given  her  a  beauti- 
ful golden  cup  to  pay  her  for  her  trouble,  she  sat 
down  on  the  tripod  and  breathed  the  strange  odor 
which  came  up  through  the  crevice  in  the  rock. 
Then  her  face  grew  pale,  and  her  eyes  looked  wild, 
and  she  seemed  to  be  in  great  pain ;  but  they  said 
that  she  was  talking  with  Apollo.  Cadmus  asked 
her  to  tell  him  what  had  become  of  Europa.  She 
said  that  Jupiter,  in  the  form  of  a  white  bull,  had 
carried  her  away,  and  that  it  would  be  of  no  use  to 
look  for  her  any  more. 

"  But  what  shall  I  do  ?  "  said  Cadmus.  "  My  father 
told  me  not  to  turn  back  till  I  should  find  her." 


8i 

"  Your  father  is  dead,"  said  the  Pythia,  "  and  a 
strange  king  rules  in  his  place.  You  must  stay  in 
Greece,  for  there  is  work  here  for  you  to  do." 

"  What  must  I  do?  "  said  Cadmus. 

"  Follow  the  white  cow,"  said  the  Pythia;  "and  on 
the  hill  where  she  lies  down,  you  must  build  a  city." 

Cadmus  did  not  understand  what  she  meant  by 
this ;  but  she  would  not  speak  another  word. 

"  This  must  be  one  of  her  riddles,"  he  said,  and 
he  left  the  temple. 

III.     THE    DRAGON. 

When  Cadmus  went  out  of  the  temple,  he  saw  a 
snow-white  cow  standing  not  far  from  the  door. 
She  seemed  to  be  waiting  for  him,  for  she  looked 
at  him  with  her  large  brown  eyes,  and  then  turned 
and  walked  away.  Cadmus  thought  of  what  the 
Pythia  had  just  told  him,  and  so  he  followed  her. 
All  day  and  all  night  he  walked  through  a  strange 
wild  country  where  no  one  lived ;  and  two  of  the 
young  men  who  had  sailed  with  Cadmus  from  his 
old  home  were  with  him. 

When  the  sun  rose  the  next  morning,  they  saw 
that  they  were  on  the  top  of  a  beautiful  hill,  with 
woods  on  one  side  and  a  grassy  meadow  on  the 
other.  There  the  cow  lay  down. 

"  Here  we  will  build  our  city,"  said  Cadmus. 

OLD   GREEK    STORIES  —  6 


82 

Then  the  young  men  made  a  fire  of  dry  sticks, 
and  Cadmus  killed  the  cow.  They  thought  that  if 
they  should  burn  some  of  her  flesh,  the  smell  of  it 
would  go  up  to  the  sky  and  be  pleasing  to  Jupiter 
and  the  Mighty  Folk  who  lived  with  him  among 
the  clouds ;  and  in  this  way  they  hoped  to  make 
friends  with  Jupiter  so  that  he  would  not  hinder 
them  in  their  work. 

But  they  needed  water  to  wash  the  flesh  and  their 
hands;  and  so  one  of  the  young  men  went  down 
the  hill  to  find  some.  He  was  gone  so  long  that  the 
other  young  man  became  uneasy  and  went  after  him. 

Cadmus  waited  for  them  till  the  fire  had  burned 
low.  He  waited  and  waited  till  the  sun  was  high 
in  the  sky.  He  called  and  shouted,  but  no  one 
answered  him.  At  last  he  took  his  sword  in  his 
hand  and  went  down  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 

He  followed  the  path  which  his  friends  had 
taken,  and  soon  came  to  a  fine  stream  of  cold 
water  at  the  foot  of  a  hill.  He  saw  something 
move  among  the  bushes  which  grew  near  it.  It 
was  a  fierce  dragon,  waiting  to  spring  upon  him. 
There  was  blood  on  the  grass  and  leaves,  and  it 
was  not  hard  to  guess  what  had  become  of  the 
two  young  men. 

The  beast  sprang  at  Cadmus,  and  tried  to  seize 
him  with  its  sharp  claws.  But  Cadmus  leaped 


83 

quickly  aside  and  struck  it  in  the  neck  with  his 
long  sword.  A  great  stream  of  black  blood  gushed 
out,  and  the  dragon  soon  fell  to  the  ground  dead. 
Cadmus  had  seen  many  fearful  sights,  but  never 
anything  so  dreadful  as  this  beast.  He  had  never 
been  in  so  great  danger  before.  He  sat  down 
on  the  ground  and  trembled ;  and,  all  the  time, 
he  was  weeping  for  his  two  friends.  How  now 
was  he  to  build  a  city,  with  no  one  to  help  him  ? 


IV.     THE    CITY. 


While  Cadmus  was  still  weeping  he  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  some  one  calling  him.  He  stood  up 
and  looked  around.  On  the  hillside  before  him 
was  a  tall  woman  who  had  a  helmet  on  her  head 
and  a  shield  in  her  hand.  Her  eyes  were  gray, 
and  her  face,  though  not  beautiful,  was  very  noble. 
Cadmus  knew  at  once  that  she  was  Athena,  the 
queen  of  the  air  —  she  who  gives  wisdom  to  men. 

Athena  told  Cadmus  that  he  must  take  out 
the  teeth  of  the  dragon  and  sow  them  in  the 
ground.  He  thought  that  would  be  a  queer  kind 
of  seed.  But  she  said  that  if  he  would  do  this,  he 
would  soon  have  men  enough  to  help  him  build 
his  city ;  and,  before  he  could  say  a  word,  she  had 
gone  out  of  his  sight. 


w 

B 

§ 

o 

C/3 


(84) 


85 

The  dragon  had  a  great  many  teeth  —  so  many 
that  when  Cadmus  had  taken  them  out  they 
filled  his  helmet  heaping  full.  The  next  thing 
was  to  find  a  good  place  to  sow  them.  Just  as 
he  turned  away  from  the  stream,  he  saw  a  yoke 
of  oxen  standing  a  little  way  off.  He  went  to 
them  and  found  that  they  were  hitched  to  a 
plow.  What  more  could  he  want?  The  ground 
in  the  meadow  was  soft  and  black,  and  he  drove 
the  plow  up  and  down,  making  long  furrows 
as  he  went.  Then  he  dropped  the  teeth,  one 
by  one,  into  the  furrows  and  covered  them  over 
with  the  rich  soil.  When  he  had  sown  all  of 
them  in  this  way,  he  sat  down  on  the  hillside 
and  watched  to  see  what  would  happen. 

In  a  little  while  the  soil  in  the  furrows  began 
to  stir.  Then,  at  every  place  that  a  tooth  had 
been  dropped,  something  bright  grew  up.  It  was 
a  brass  helmet.  The  helmets  pushed  their  way 
up,  and  soon  the  faces  of  men  were  seen  under- 
neath, then  their  shoulders,  then  their  arms,  then 
their  bodies  ;  and  then,  before  Cadmus  could  think, 
a  thousand  warriors  leaped  out  of  the  furrows 
and  shook  off  the  black  earth  which  was  clinging 
to  them.  Every  man  was  clothed  in  a  suit  of  - 
brass  armor;  and  every  one  had  a  long  spear 
in  his  right  hand  and  a  shield  in  his  left. 


86 

Cadmus  was  frightened  when  he  saw  the  strange 
crop  which  had  grown  up  from  the  dragon's  teeth. 
The  men  looked  so  fierce  that  he  feared  they 
would  kill  him  if  they  saw  him.  He  hid  himself 
behind  his  plow  and  then  began  to  throw  stones 
at  them.  The  warriors  did  not  know  where  the 
stones  came  from,  but  each  thought  that  his 
neighbor  had  struck  him.  Soon  they  began  to  fight 
among  themselves.  Man  after  man  was  killed,  and 
in  a  little  while  only  five  were  left  alive.  Then 
Cadmus  ran  towards  them  and  called  out: 

"  Hold  !  Stop  fighting !  You  are  my  men,  and 
must  come  with  me.  We  will  build  a  city  here." 

The  men  obeyed  him.  They  followed  Cadmus 
to  the  top  of  the  hill ;  and  they  were  such  good 
workmen  that  in  a  few  days  they  had  built  a 
house  on  the  spot  where  the  cow  had  lain  down. 

After  that  they  built  other  houses,  and  people 
came  to  live  in  them.  They  called  the  town  Cad- 
meia,  after  Cadmus  who  was  its  first  king.  But 
when  the  place  had  grown  to  be  a  large  city, 
it  was  known  by  the  name  of  Thebes. 

Cadmus  was  a  wise  king.  The  Mighty  Folk 
who  lived  with  Jupiter  amid  the  clouds  were  well 
pleased  with  him  and  helped  him  in  more  ways 
than  one.  After  a  while  he  married  Harmonia, 
the  beautiful  daughter  of  Mars.  All  the  Mighty 


Ones  were  at  the  wedding;  and  Athena  gave  the 
bride  a  wonderful  necklace  about  which  you  may 
learn  something  more  at  another  time. 

But  the  greatest  thing  that  Cadmus  did  is  yet 
to  be  told.  He  was  the  first  schoolmaster  of  the 
Greeks,  and  taught  them  the  letters  which  were  used 
in  his  own  country  across  the  sea.  They  called  the 
first  of  these  letters  alpha  and  the  second  beta, 
and  that  is  why  men  speak  of  the  alphabet  to  this 
day.  And  when  the  Greeks  had  learned  the  alpha- 
bet from  Cadmus,  they  soon  began  to  read  and 
write,  and  to  make  beautiful  and  useful  books. 

As  for  the  maiden  Europa,  she  was  carried  safe 
over  the  sea  to  a  distant  shore.  She  may  have 
been  happy  in  the  new,  strange  land  to  which  she 
was  taken — I  cannot  tell;  but  she  never  heard  of 
friends  or  home  again.  Whether  it  was  really 
Jupiter  in  the  form  of  a  bull  that  carried  her  away, 
nobody  knows.  It  all  happened  so  long  ago  that 
there  may  have  been  some  mistake  about  the  story ; 
and  I  should  not  think  it  strange  if  it  were  a 
sea  robber  who  stole  her  from  her  home,  and  a 
swift  ship  with  white  sails  that  bore  her  away. 
Of  one  thing  I  am  very  sure :  she  was  loved  so 
well  by  all  who  knew  her  that  the  great  unknown 
country  to  which  she  was  taken  has  been  called 
after  her  name  ever  since  —  Europe. 


THE  QUEST  OF  MEDUSA'S  HEAD. 

I.     THE    WOODEN    CHEST. 

THERE  was  a  king  of  Argos  who  had  but  one 
child,  and  that  child  was  a  girl.  If  he  had  had  a 
son,  he  would  have  trained  him  up  to  be  a  brave 
man  and  great  king;  but  he  did  not  know  what 
to  do  with  this  fair-haired  daughter.  When  he 
saw  her  growing  up  to  be  tall  and  slender  and 
wise,  he  wondered  if,  after  all,  he  would  have  to 
die  some  time  and  leave  his  lands  and  his  gold 
and  his  kingdom  to  her.  So  he  sent  to  Delphi 
and  asked  the  Pythia  about  it.  The  Pythia  told 
him  that  he  would  not  only  have  to  die  some  time, 
but  that  the  son  of  his  daughter  would  cause  his 
death. 

This  frightened  the  king  very  much,  and  he 
tried  to  think  of  some  plan  by  which  he  could  keep 
the  Pythia's  words  from  coming  true.  At  last  he 
made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  build  a  prison 
for  his  daughter  and  keep  her  in  it  all  her  life. 
So  he  called  his  workmen  and  had  them  dig  a  deep 

88 


89 

round  hole  in  the  ground,  and  in  this  hole  they 
built  a  house  of  brass  which  had  but  one  room 
and  no  door  at  all,  but  only  a  small  window  at 
the  top.  When  it  was  finished,  the  king  put  the 
maiden,  whose  name  wras  Dana'e,  into  it ;  and  with 
her  he  put  her  nurse  and  her  toys  and  her  pretty 
dresses  and  everything  that  he  thought  she  would 
need  to  make  her  happy. 

"  Now  we  shall  see  that  the  Pythia  does  not 
always  tell  the  truth,"  he  said. 

So  Danae  was  kept  shut  up  in  the  prison  of 
brass.  She  had  no  one  to  talk  tc  but  her  old 
nurse ;  and  she  never  saw  the  land  or  the  sea,  but 
only  the  blue  sky  above  the  open  window  and  now 
and  then  a  white  cloud  sailing  across.  Dayv  after 
day  she  sat  under  the  window  and  wondered  why 
her  father  kept  her  in  that  lonely  place,  and  whether 
he  would  ever  come  and  take  her  out.  I  do  not 
know  how  many  years  passed  by,  but  Danae  grew 
fairer  every  day,  and  by  and  by  she  was  no  longer 
a  child,  but  a  tall  and  beautiful  woman ;  and  Jupi- 
ter amid  the  clouds  looked  down  and  saw  her  and 
loved  her. 

One  day  it  seemed  to  her  that  the  sky  opened 
and  a  shower  of  gold  fell  through  the  window  into 
the  room;  and  wrhen  the  blinding  shower  had 
ceased,  a  noble  young  man  stood  smiling  before 


go 

her.  She  did  not  know — nor  do  I  —  that  it  was 
mighty  Jupiter  who  had  thus  come  down  in  the 
rain ;  but  she  thought  that  he  was  a  brave  prince 
who  had  come  from  over  the  sea  to  take  her  out 
of  her  prison-house. 

After  that  he  came  often,  but  always  as  a  tall 
and  handsome  youth ;  and  by  and  by  they  were 
married,  with  only  the  nurse  at  the  wedding  feast, 
and  Danae  was  so  happy  that  she  was  no  longer 
lonesome  even  when  he  was  away.  But  one  day 
when  he  climbed  out  through  the  narrow  window 
there  was  a  great  flash  of  light,  and  she  never 
saw  him  again. 

Not  long  afterwards  a  babe  was  born  to  Danae,  a 
smiling  boy  whom  she  named  Perseus.  For  four 
years  she  and  the  nurse  kept  him  hidden,  and  not 
even  the  women  who  brought  their  food  to  the 
window  knew  about  him.  But  one  day  the  king 
chanced  to  be  passing  by  and  heard  the  child's 
prattle.  When  he  learned  the  truth,  he  was  very 
much  alarmed,  for  he  thought  that  now,  in  spite  of 
all  that  he  had  done,  the  words  of  the  Pythia  might 
come  true. 

The  only  sure  way  to  save  himself  would  be  to 
put  the  child  to  death  before  he  was  old  enough 
to  do  any  harm.  But  when  he  had  taken  the  little 
Perseus  and  his  mother  out  of  the  prison  and  had 


seen  how  helpless  the  child  was,  he  could  not  bear 
the  thought  of  having  him  killed  outright.  For 
the  king,  although  a  great  coward,  was  really  a 
kind-hearted  man  and  did  not  like  to  see  anything 
suffer  pain.  Yet  something  must  be  done. 

So  he  bade  his  servants  make  a  wooden  chest 
that  was  roomy  and  watertight  and  strong;  and 
when  it  was  done,  he  put  Danae  and  the  child  into 
it  and  had  it  taken  far  out  to  sea  and  left  there  to 
be  tossed  about  by  the  waves.  He  thought  that  in 
this  way  he  would  rid  himself  of  both  daughter  and 
grandson  without  seeing  them  die;  for  surely  the 
chest  would  sink  after  a  while,  or  else  the  winds 
would  cause  it  to  drift  to  some  strange  shore  so  far 
away  that  they  could  never  come  back  to  Argos 
again. 

All  day  and  all  night  and  then  another  day,  fair 
Danae  and  her  child  drifted  over  the  sea.  The 
waves  rippled  and  played  before  and  around  the 
floating  chest,  the  west  wind  whistled  cheerily,  and 
the  sea  birds  circled  in  the  air  above;  and  the  child 
was  not  afraid,  but  dipped  his  hands  in  the  curling 
waves  and  laughed  at  the  merry  breeze  and  shouted 
back  at  the  screaming  birds. 

But  on  the  second  night  all  was  changed.  A 
storm  arose,  the  sky  was  black,  the  billows  were 
mountain  high,  the  winds  roared  fearfully;  yet 


92 

through  it  all  the  child  slept  soundly  in  his  mother's 
arms.     And  Danae  sang  over  him  this  song : 

"  Sleep,  sleep,  dear  child,  and  take  your  rest 
Upon  your  troubled  mother's  breast ; 
For  you  can  lie  without  one  fear 
Of  dreadful  danger  lurking  near. 

"Wrapped  in  soft  robes  and  warmly  sleeping, 
You  do  not  hear  your  mother  weeping  ; 
You  do  not  see  the  mad  waves  leaping, 
Nor  heed  the  winds  their  vigils  keeping. 

"  The  stars  are  hid,  the  night  is  drear, 
The  waves  beat  high,  the  storm  is  here  ; 
But  you  can  sleep,  my  darling  child, 
And  know  naught  of  the  uproar  wild." 

At  last  the  morning  of  the  third  day  came,  and 
the  diest  was  tossed  upon  the  sandy  shore  of  a 
strange  island  where  there  were  green  fields  and, 
beyond  them,  a  little  town.  A  man  who  happened 
to  be  walking  near  the  shore  saw  it  and  dragged 
it  far  up  on  the  beach.  Then  he  looked  inside,  and 
there  he  saw  the  beautiful  lady  and  the  little  boy. 
He  helped  them  out  and  led  them  just  as  they  were 
to  his  own  house,  where  he  cared  for  them  very 
kindly.  And  when  Dana'e  had  told  him  her  story, 
he  bade  her  feel  no  more  fear;  for  they  might  have 
a  home  with  him  as  long  as  they  should  choose  to 
stay,  and  he  would  be  a  true  friend  to  them  both. 


93 


II.     THE    MAGIC    SLIPPERS. 

So  Dana'e  and  her  son  stayed  in  the  house 
of  the  kind  man  who  had  saved  them  from  the 
sea.  Years  passed  by,  and  Perseus  grew  up  to 
be  a  tall  young  man,  handsome,  and  brave,  and 
strong.  The  king  of  the  island,  when  he  saw 
Dana'e,  was  so  pleased  with  her  beauty  that  he 
wanted  her  to  become  his  wife.  But  he  was  a 
dark,  cruel  man,  and  she  did  not  like  him  at  all ; 
so  she  told  him  that  she  would  not  marry  him. 
The  king  thought  that  Perseus  was  to  blame  for 
this,  and  that  if  he  could  find  some  excuse  to  send 
the  young  man  on  a  far  journey,  he  might  force 
Danae  to  have  him  whether  she  wished  or  not. 

One  day  he  called  all  the  young  men  of  his 
country  together  and  told  them  that  he  was  soon 
to  be  wedded  to  the  queen  of  a  certain  land  beyond 
the  sea.  Would  not  each  of  them  bring  him  a 
present  to  be  given  to  her  father  ?  For  in  those 
times  it  was  the  rule,  that  when  any  man  was 
about  to  be  married,  he  must  offer  costly  gifts 
to  the  father  of  the  bride. 

"  What  kind  of  presents  do  you  want  ? "  said 
the  young  men. 

"Horses,"  he  answered;  for  he  knew  that  Per- 
seus had  no  horse. 


94 

"  Why  don't  you  ask  for  something  worth  the 
having  ? "  said  Perseus ;  for  he  was  vexed  at  the 
way  in  which  the  king  was  treating  him.  "  Why 
don't  you  ask  for  Medusa's  head,  for  example  ? " 

"  Medusa's  head  it  shall  be ! "  cried  the  king. 
"These  young  men  may  give  me  horses,  but  you 
shall  bring  Medusa's  head." 

"  I  will  bring  it,"  said  Perseus ;  and  he  went 
away  in  anger,  while  his  young  friends  laughed 
at  him  because  of  his  foolish  words. 

What  was  this  Medusa's  head  which  he  had 
so  rashly  promised  to  bring?  His  mother  had 
often  told  him  about  Medusa.  Far,  far  away, 
on  the  very  edge  of  the  world,  there  lived  three 
strange  monsters,  sisters,  called  Gorgons.  They 
had  the  bodies  and  faces  of  women,  but  they  had 
wings  of  gold,  and  terrible  claws  of  brass,  and 
hair  that  was  full  of  living  serpents.  They  were 
so  awful  to  look  upon,  that  no  man  could  bear 
the  sight  of  them,  but  whoever  saw  their  faces 
was  turned  to  stone.  Two  of  these  monsters 
had  charmed  lives,  and  no  weapon  could  ever 
do  them  harm ;  but  the  youngest,  whose  name 
was  Medusa,  might  be  killed,  if  indeed  anybody 
could  find  her  and  could  give  the  fatal  stroke. 

When  Perseus  went  away  from  the  king's  pal- 
ace, he  began  to  feel  sorry  that  he  had  spoken  so 


95 

rashly.  For  how  should  he  ever  make  good  his 
promise  and  do  the  king's  bidding?  He  did  not 
know  which  way  to  go  to  find  the  Gorgons,  and 
he  had  no  weapon  with  which  to  slay  the  terrible 
Medusa.  But  at  any  rate  he  would  never  show 
his  face  to  the  king  again,  unless  he  could  bring 
the  head  of  terror  with  him.  He  went  down 
to  the  shore  and  stood  looking  out  over  the  sea 
towards  Argos,  his  native  land ;  and  while  he 
looked,  the  sun  went  down,  and  the  moon  arose, 
and  a  soft  wind  came  blowing  from  the  west.  Then, 
all  at  once,  two  persons,  a  man  and  a  woman, 
stood  before  him.  Both  were  tall  and  noble.  The 
man  looked  like  a  prince ;  and  there  were  wings  on 
his  cap  and  on  his  feet,  and  he  carried  a  winged 
staff,  around  which  two  golden  serpents  were 
twined. 

He  asked  Perseus  what  was  the  matter;  and  the 
young  man  told  him  how  the  king  had  treated  him, 
and  all  about  the  rash  words  which  he  had  spoken. 
Then  the  lady  spoke  to  him  very  kindly;  and  he 
noticed  that,  although  she  was  not  beautiful,  she 
had  most  wonderful  gray  eyes,  and  a  stern  but 
lovable  face  and  a  queenly  form.  And  she  told 
him  not  to  fear,  but  to  go  out  boldly  in  quest  of 
the  Gorgons;  for  she  would  help  him  obtain  the 
terrible  head  of  Medusa. 


96 

"  But  I  have  no  ship,  and  how  shall  I  go  ?  "  said 
Perseus. 

"  You  shall  don  my  winged  slippers/'  said  the 
strange  prince,  "  and  they  will  bear  you  over  sea 
and  land." 

"  Shall  I  go  north,  or  south,  or  east,  or  west  ? " 
asked  Perseus. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  said  the  tall  lady.  u  You  must 
go  first  to  the  three  Gray  Sisters,  who  live  beyond 
the  frozen  sea  in  the  far,  far  north.  They  have  a 
secret  which  nobody  knows,  and  you  must  force 
them  to  tell  it  to  you.  Ask  them  where  you  shall 
find  the  three  Maidens  who  guard  the  golden  apples 
of  the  West;  and  when  they  shall  have  told  you, 
turn  about  and  go  straight  thither.  The  Maidens 
will  give  you  three  things,  without  which  you  can 
never  obtain  the  terrible  head ;  and  they  will  show 
you  how  to  wing  your  way  across  the  western 
ocean  to  the  edge  of  the  world  where  lies  the  home 
of  the  Gorgons." 

Then  the  man  took  off  his  winged  slippers,  and 
put  them  on  the  feet  of  Perseus;  and  the  woman 
whispered  to  him  to  be  off  at  once,  and  to  fear 
nothing,  but  be  bold  and  true.  And  Perseus  knew 
that  she  was  none  other  than  Athena,  the  queen  of 
the  air,  and  that  her  companion  was  Mercury,  the 
lord  of  the  summer  clouds.  But  before  he  could 


97 

thank  them  for  their  kindness,  they  had  vanished 
in  the  dusky  twilight. 

Then  he   leaped  into  the  air  to  try  the   Magic 
Slippers. 


III.     THE    GRAY    SISTERS. 


Swifter  than  an  eagle,  Perseus  flew  up  towards 
the  sky.  Then  he  turned,  and  the  Magic  Slippers 
bore  him  over  the  sea  straight  towards  the  north. 
On  and  on  he  went,  and  soon  the  sea  was  passed ; 
and  he  came  to  a  famous  land,  where  there  were 
cities  and  towns  and  many  people.  And  then  he 
flew  over  a  range  of  snowy  mountains,  beyond 
which  were  mighty  forests  and  a  vast  plain  where 
many  rivers  wandered,  seeking  for  the  sea.  And 
farther  on  was  another  range  of  mountains;  and 
then  there  were  frozen  marshes  and  a  wilderness  of 
snow,  and  after  all  the  sea  again,  —  but  a  sea  of  ice. 
On  and  on  he  winged  his  way,  among  toppling  ice- 
bergs and  over  frozen  billows  and  through  air  which 
the  sun  never  warmed,  and  at  last  he  came  to  the 
cavern  where  the  three  Gray  Sisters  dwelt. 

These  three  creatures  were  so  old  that  they  had 
forgotten  their  own  age,  and  nobody  could  count 
the  years  which  they  had  lived.  The  long  hair 
which  covered  their  heads  had  been  gray  since 
they  were  born ;  and  they  had  among  them  only 

OLD    GREEK   STORIES  —  7 


98 

a  single  eye  and  a  single  tooth  which  they  passed 
back  and  forth  from  one  to  another.  Perseus 
heard  them  mumbling  and  crooning  in  their  dreary 
home,  and  he  stood  very  still  and  listened. 

"  We  know  a  secret  which  even  the  Great  Folk 
who  live  on  the  mountain  top  can  never  learn ; 
don't  we,  sisters  ? "  said  one. 

"Ha!  ha!  That  we  do,  that  we  do!"  chattered 
the  others. 

"  Give  me  the  tooth,  sister,  that  I  may  feel 
young  and  handsome  again,"  said  the  one  nearest 
to  Perseus. 

"  And  give  me  the  eye  that  I  may  look  out  and 
see  what  is  going  on  in  the  busy  world,"  said  the 
sister  who  sat  next  to  her. 

"  Ah,  yes,  yes,  yes,  yes !  "  mumbled  the  third,  as 
she  took  the  tooth  and  the  eye  and  reached  them 
blindly  towards  the  others. 

Then,  quick  as  thought,  Perseus  leaped  forward 
and  snatched  both  of  the  precious  things  from  her 
hand. 

"Where  is  the  tooth?  Where  is  the  eye?" 
screamed  the  two,  reaching  out  their  long  arms 
and  groping  here  and  there.  "  Have  you  dropped 
them,  sister?  Have  you  lost  them?" 

Perseus  laughed  as  he  stood  in  the  door  of  their 
cavern  and  saw  their  distress  and  terror. 


99 

"  I  have  your  tooth  and  your  eye,"  he  said,  "  and 
you  shall  never  touch  them  again  until  you  tell  me 
your  secret.  Where  are  the  Maidens  who  keep 
the  golden  apples  of  the  Western  Land  ?  Which 
way  shall  I  go  to  find  them?" 

"  You  are  young,  and  we  are  old,"  said  the  Gray 
Sisters;  "pray,  do  not  deal  so  cruelly  with  us. 
Pity  us,  and  give  us  our  eye." 

Then  they  wept  and  pleaded  and  coaxed  and 
threatened.  But  Perseus  stood  a  little  way  off  and 
taunted  them;  and  they  moaned  and  mumbled 
and  shrieked,  as  they  found  that  their  words  did 
not  move  him. 

"  Sisters,  we  must  tell  him,"  at  last  said  one. 

"Ah,  yes,  we  must  tell  him,"  said  the  others. 
"We  must  part  with  the  secret  to  save  our  eye." 

And  then  they  told  him  how  he  should  go  to 
reach  the  Western  Land,  and  what  road  he  should 
follow  to  find  the  Maidens  who  kept  the  golden 
apples.  When  they  had  made  everything  plain  to 
him  Perseus  gave  them  back  their  eye  and  their 
tooth. 

"Ha!  ha!"  they  laughed;  "now  the  golden  days 
of  youth  have  come  again!"  And,  from  that  day 
to  this,  no  man  has  ever  seen  the  three  Gray 
Sisters,  nor  does  any  one  know  what  became  of 
them.  But  the  winds  still  whistle  through  their 


100 


cheerless  cave,  and  the  cold  waves  murmur  on  the 
shore  of  the  wintry  sea,  and  the  ice  mountains 
topple  and  crash,  and  no  sound  of  living  creature 
is  heard  in  all  that  desolate  land. 


IV,     THE    WESTERN    MAIDENS, 

As  for  Perseus,  he  leaped  again  into  the  air,  and 
the  Magic  Slippers  bore  him  southward  with  the 
speed  of  the  wind.  Very  soon  he  left  the  frozen 
sea  behind  him  and  came  to  a  sunny  land,  where 
there  were  green  forests  and  flowery  meadows  and 
hills  and  valleys,  and  at  last  a  pleasant  garden 
where  were  all  kinds  of  blossoms  and  fruits.  He 
knew  that  this  was  the  famous  Western  Land, 
for  the  Gray  Sisters  had  told  him  what  he  should 
see  there.  So  he  alighted  and  walked  among  the 
trees  until  he  came  to  the  center  of  the  garden. 
There  he  saw  the  three  Maidens  of  the  West 
dancing  around  a  tree  which  was  full  of  golden 
apples,  and  singing  as  they  danced.  For  the  won- 
derful tree  with  its  precious  fruit  belonged  to  Juno, 
the  queen  of  earth  and  sky;  it  had  been  given  to 
her  as  a  wedding  gift,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
Maidens  to  care  for  it  and  see  that  no  one  touched 
the  golden  apples. 

Perseus  stopped  and  listened  to  their  song: 


IOI 

"  We  sing  of  the  old,  we  sing  of  the  new, — 
Our  joys  are  many,  our  sorrows  are  few ; 
Singing,  dancing, 
All  hearts  entrancing, 
We  wait  to  welcome  the  good  and  the  true. 

"The  daylight  is  waning,  the  evening  is  here, 
The  sun  will  soon  set,  the  stars  will  appear. 

Singing,  dancing, 

All  hearts  entrancing, 
We  wait  for  the  dawn  of  a  glad  new  year. 

"  The  tree  shall  wither,  the  apples  shall  fall, 
Sorrow  shall  come,  and  death  shall  call, 

Alarming,  grieving, 

All  hearts  deceiving,  — 
But  hope  shall  abide  to  comfort  us  all. 

"  Soon  the  tale  shall  be  told,  the  song  shall  be  sung. 
The  bow  shall  be  broken,  the  harp  unstrung, 

Alarming,  grieving, 

All  hearts  deceiving, 
Till  every  joy  to  the  winds  shall  be  flung. 

"  But  a  new  tree  shall  spring  from  the  roots  of  the  old, 
And  many  a  blossom  its  leaves  shall  unfold, 

Cheering,  gladdening, 

With  joy  maddening,  — 
For  its  boughs  shall  be  laden  with  apples  of  gold." 

Then    Perseus  went  forward   and  spoke   to  the 
Maidens.     They  stopped   singing,   and    stood   still 


a 
[5 


— 


1x02) 


103 

as  if  in  alarm.  But  when  they  saw  the  Magic 
Slippers  on  his  feet,  they  ran  to  him,  and  welcomed 
him  to  the  Western  Land  and  to  their  garden. 

"  We  knew  that  you  were  coming,"  they  said, 
"  for  the  winds  told  us.  But  why  do  you  come  ?  " 

Perseus  told  them  of  all  that  had  happened  to  him 
since  he  was  a  child,  and  of  his  quest  of  Medusa's 
head ;  and  he  said  that  he  had  come  to  ask  them  to 
give  him  three  things  to  help  him  in  his  fight  with 
the  Gorgons. 

The  Maidens  answered  that  they  would  give  him 
not  three  things,  but  four.  Then  one  of  them  gave 
him  a  sharp  sword,  which  was  crooked  like  a  sickle, 
and  which  she  fastened  to  the  belt  at  his  waist ; 
and  another  gave  him  a  shield,  which  was  brighter 
than  any  looking-glass  you  ever  saw ;  and  the  third 
gave  him  a  magic  pouch,  which  she  hung  by  a 
long  strap  over  his  shoulder. 

"  These  are  three  things  which  you  must  have 
in  order  to  obtain  Medusa's  head;  and  now  here 
is  a  fourth,  for  without  it  your  quest  must  be  in 
vain."  And  they  gave  him  a  magic  cap,  the  Cap 
of  Darkness;  and  when  they  had  put  it  upon  his 
head,  there  was  no  creature  on  the  earth  or  in  the 
sky  —  no,  not  even  the  Maidens  themselves  —  that 
could  see  him. 

When  at  last  he  was  arrayed  to  their  liking,  they 


104 

told  him  where  he  would  find  the  Gorgons,  and 
what  he  should  do  to  obtain  the  terrible  head  and 
escape  alive.  Then  they  kissed  him  and  wished 
him  good  luck,  and  bade  him  hasten  to  do  the 
dangerous  deed.  And  Perseus  donned  the  Cap 
of  Darkness,  and  sped  away  and  away  towards 
the  farthermost  edge  of  the  earth ;  and  the  three 
Maidens  went  back  to  their  tree  to  sing  and  to 
dance  and  to  guard  the  golden  apples  until  the  old 
world  should  become  young  again. 

V.     THE    DREADFUL    GORGONS. 

With  the  sharp  sword  at  his  side  and  the  bright 
shield  upon  his  arm,  Perseus  flew  bravely  onward 
in  search  of  the  dreadful  Gorgons ;  but  he  had  the 
Cap  of  Darkness  upon  his  head,  and  you  could  no 
more  have  seen  him  than  you  can  see  the  wind. 
He  flew  so  swiftly  that  it  was  not  long  until  he 
had  crossed  the  mighty  ocean  which  encircles  the 
earth,  and  had  come  to  the  sunless  land  which  lies 
beyond ;  and  then  he  knew,  from  what  the  Maidens 
had  told  him,  that  the  lair  of  the  Gorgons  could 
not  be  far  away. 

He  heard  a  sound  as  of  some  one  breathing 
heavily,  and  he  looked  around  sharply  to  see  where 
it  came  from.  Among  the  foul  weeds  which  grew 


ios 

close  to  the  bank  of  a  muddy  river  there  was  some- 
thing which  glittered  in  the  pale  light.  He  flew 
a  little  nearer ;  but  he  did  not  dare  to  look  straight 
forward,  lest  he  should  all  at  once  meet  the  gaze 
of  a  Gorgon,  and  be  changed  into  stone.  So  he 
turned  around,  and  held  the  shining  shield  before 
him  in  such  a  way  that  by  looking  into  it  he  could 
see  objects  behind  him  as  in  a  mirror. 

Ah,  what  a  dreadful  sight  it  was !  Half  hidden 
among  the  weeds  lay  the  three  monsters,  fast 
asleep,  with  their  golden  wings  folded  about  them. 
Their  brazen  claws  were  stretched  out  as.  though 
ready  to  seize  their  prey ;  and  their  shoulders  were 
covered  with  sleeping  snakes.  The  two  largest  of 
the  Gorgons  lay  with  their  heads  tucked  under  their 
wings  as  birds  hide  their  heads  when  they  go  to 
sleep.  But  the  third,  who  lay  between  them,  slept 
with  her  face  turned  up  towards  the  sky;  and  Per- 
seus knew  that  she  was  Medusa. 

Very  stealthily  he  went  nearer  and  nearer,  always 
with  his  back  towards  the  monsters  and  always 
looking  into  his  bright  shield  to  see  where  to  go. 
Then  he  drew  his  sharp  sword  and,  dashing 
quickly  downward,  struck  a  back  blow,  so  sure, 
so  swift,  that  the  head  of  Medusa  was  cut  from 
her  shoulders  and  the  black  blood  gushed  like 
a  river  from  her  neck.  Quick  as  thought  he 


io6 

thrust  the  terrible  head  into  his  magic  pouch  and 
leaped  again  into  the  air,  and  flew  away  with  the 
speed  of  the  wind. 

Then  the  two  older  Gorgons  awoke,  and  rose  with 
dreadful  screams,  and  spread  their  great  wings,  and 
dashed  after  him.  They  could  not  see  him,  for  the 
Cap  of  Darkness  hid  him  from  even  their  eyes ;  but 
they  scented  the  blood  of  the  head  which  he  carried 
in  the  pouch,  and  like  hounds  in  the  chase,  they 
followed  him,  sniffing  the  air.  And  as  he  flew 
through  the  clouds  he  could  hear  their  dreadful 
cries  and  the  clatter  of  their  golden  wings  and  the 
snapping  of  their  horrible  jaws.  But  the  Magic 
Slippers  were  faster  than  any  wings,  and  in  a  little 
while  the  monsters  were  left  far  behind,  and  their 
cries  were  heard  no  more ;  and  Perseus  flew  on  alone. 

VI,    THE    GREAT    SEA    BEAST. 

Perseus  soon  crossed  the  ocean  and  came  again 
to  the  Land  of  the  West.  Far  below  him  he  could 
see  the  three  Maidens  dancing  around  the  golden 
tree ;  but  he  did  not  stop,  for,  now  that  he  had  the 
head  of  Medusa  safe  in  the  pouch  at  his  side,  he 
must  hasten  home.  Straight  east  he  flew  over  the 
great  sea,  and  after  a  time  he  came  to  a  country 
where  there  were  palm  trees  and  pyramids  and 


a  great  river  flowing  from  the  south.  Here,  as 
he  looked  down,  a  strange  sight  met  his  eyes: 
he  saw  a  beautiful  girl  chained  to  a  rock  by  the 
seashore,  and  far  away  a  huge  sea  beast  swimming 
towards  her  to  devour  her.  Quick  as  thought,  he 
flew  down  and  spoke  to  her ;  but,  as  she  could  not 
see  him  for  the  Cap  of  Darkness  which  he  wore, 
his  voice  only  frightened  her. 

Then  Perseus  took  off  his  cap,  and  stood  upon 
the  rock ;  and  when  the  girl  saw  him  with  his 
long  hair  and  wonderful  eyes  and  laughing  face, 
she  thought  him  the  handsomest  young  man  in 
the  world. 

"  Oh,  save  me !  save  me ! "  she  cried  as  she 
reached  out  her  arms  towards  him. 

Perseus  drew  his  sharp  sword  and  cut  the  chain 
which  held  her,  and  then  lifted  her  high  up  upon 
the  rock.  But  by  this  time  the  sea  monster  was 
close  at  hand,  lashing  the  water  with  his  tail  and 
opening  his  wide  jaws  as  though  he  would  swallow 
not  only  Perseus  and  the  young  girl,  but  even  the 
rock  on  which  they  were  standing.  He  was  a  ter- 
rible fellow,  and  yet  not  half  so  terrible  as  the 
Gorgon.  As  he  came  roaring  towards  the  shore, 
Perseus  lifted  the  head  of  Medusa  from  his  pouch 
and  held  it  up ;  and  when  the  beast  saw  the  dread- 
ful face  he  stopped  short  and  was  turned  into  stone ; 


io8 

and  men  say  that  the  stone  beast  may  be  seen  in 
that  selfsame  spot  to  this  day.^v 

Then  Perseus  slipped  the  Gorgon's  head  back 
into  the  pouch  and  hastened  to  speak  with  the 
young  girl  whom  he  had  saved.  She  told  him 
that  her  name  was  Andromeda,  and  that  she  was 
the  daughter  of  the  king  of  that  land.  She  said 
that  her  mother,  the  queen,  was  very  beautiful 
and  very  proud  of  her  beauty ;  and  every  day  she 
went  down  to  the  seashore  to  look  at  her  face  as 
it  was  pictured  in  the  quiet  water;  and  she  had 
boasted  that  not  even  the  nymphs  who  live  in 
the  sea  were  as  handsome  as  she.  When  the  sea 
nymphs  heard  about  this,  they  were  very  angry 
and  asked  great  Neptune,  the  king  of  the  sea,  to 
punish  the  queen  for  her  pride.  So  Neptune  sent 
a  sea  monster  to  crush  the  king's  ships  and  kill  the 
cattle  along  the  shore  and  break  down  all  the 
fishermen's  huts.  The  people  were  so  much  dis- 
tressed that  they  sent  at  last  to  ask  the  Pythia 
what  they  should  do ;  and  the  Pythia  said  that 
there  was  only  one  way  to  save  the  land  from 
destruction,  — that  they  must  give  the  king's  daugh- 
ter, Andromeda,  to  the  monster  to  be  devoured. 

The  king  and  the  queen  loved  their  daughter 
very  dearly,  for  she  was  their  only  child ;  and  for  a 
long  time  they  refused  to  do  as  the  Pythia  had  told 


109 

them.  But  day  after  day  the  monster  laid  waste 
the  land,  and  threatened  to  destroy  not  only  the 
farms,  but  the  towns ;  and  so  they  were  forced  in 
the  end  to  give  up  Andromeda  to  save  their  coun- 
try. This,  then,  was  why  she  had  been  chained  to 
the  rock  by  the  shore  and  left  there  to  perish  in  the 
jaws  of  the  beast. 

While  Perseus  was  yet  talking  with  Andromeda, 
the  king  and  the  queen  and  a  great  company  of 
people  came  down  the  shore,  weeping  and  tearing 
their  hair ;  for  they  were  sure  that  by  this  time  the 
monster  had  devoured  his  prey.  But  when  they 
saw  her  alive  and  well,  and  learned  that  she  had 
been  saved  by  the  handsome  young  man  who  stood 
beside  her,  they  could  hardly  hold  themselves  for 
joy.  And  Perseus  was  so  delighted  with  Androm- 
eda's beauty  that  he  almost  forgot  his  quest  which 
was  not  yet  finished ;  and  when  the  king  asked  him 
what  he  should  give  him  as  a  reward  for  saving 
Andromeda's  life,  he  said : 

"  Give  her  to  me  for  my  wife." 

This  pleased  the  king  very  much;  and  so,  on 
the  seventh  day,  Perseus  and  Andromeda  were 
married,  and  there  was  a  great  feast  in  the  king's 
palace,  and  everybody  was  merry  and  glad.  And 
the  two  young  people  lived  happily  for  some  time 
in  the  land  of  palms  and  pyramids ;  and,  from  the 


(no) 


1  THE    KING    SAW   IT   AND   WAS   TURNED    INTO   STONE.' 


Ill 


sea  to  the  mountains,  nothing  was  talked  about 
but  the  courage  of  Perseus  and  the  beauty  of 
Andromeda. 


VII.     THE    TIMELY    RESCUE. 


But  Perseus  had  not  forgotten  his  mother;  and 
so,  one  fine  summer  day,  he  and  Andromeda  sailed 
in  a  beautiful  ship  to  his  own  home ;  for  the  Magic 
Slippers  could  not  carry  both  him  and  his  bride 
through  the  air.  The  ship  came  to  land  at  the 
very  spot  where  the  wooden  chest  had  been  cast 
so  many  years  before ;  and  Perseus  and  his  bride 
walked  through  the  fields  towards  the  town. 

Now,  the  wicked  king  of  that  land  had  never 
ceased  trying  to  persuade  Danae  to  become  his 
wife ;  but  she  would  not  listen  to  him,  and  the  more 
he  pleaded  and  threatened,  the  more  she  disliked 
him.  At  last  when  he  found  that  she  could  not  be 
made  to  have  him,  he  declared  that  he  would  kill 
her;  and  on  this  very  morning  he  had  started 
out,  sword  in  hand,  to  take  her  life. 

So,  as  Perseus  and  Andromeda  came  into  the 
town,  whom  should  they  meet  but  his  mother 
fleeing  to  the  altar  of  Jupiter,  and  the  king 
following  after,  intent  on  killing  her?  Danae 
was  so  frightened  that  she  did  not  see  Perseus, 
but  ran  right  on  towards  the  only  place  of  safety. 


112 

For  it  was  a  law  of  that  land  that  not  even  the 
king  should  be  allowed  to  harm  any  one  who  took 
refuge  on  the  altar  of  Jupiter. 

When  Perseus  saw  the  king  rushing  like  a  mad- 
man after  his  mother,  he  threw  himself  before  him 
and  bade  him  stop.  But  the  king  struck  at  him 
furiously  with  his  sword.  Perseus  caught  the  blow 
on  his  shield,  and  at  the  same  moment  took  the 
head  of  Medusa  from  his  magic  pouch. 

"  I  promised  to  bring  you  a  present,  and  here  it 
is  !  "  he  cried. 

The  king  saw  it,  and  was  turned  into  stone,  just 
as  he  stood,  with  his  sword  uplifted  and  that  terri- 
ble look  of  anger  and  passion  in  his  face. 

The  people  of  the  island  were  glad  when  they 
learned  what  had  happened,  for  no  one  loved  the 
wicked  king.  They  w^ere  glad,  too,  because  Per- 
seus had  come  home  again,  and  had  brought 
with  him  his  beautiful  wife,  Andromeda.  So,  after 
they  had  talked  the  matter  over  among  themselves, 
they  went  to  him  and  asked  him  to  be  their  king. 
But  he  thanked  them,  and  said  that 'he  would 
rule  over  them  for  one  day  only,  and  that  then 
he  would  give  the  kingdom  to  another,  so  that 
he  might  take  his  mother  back  to  her  home  and 
her  kindred  in  distant  Argos. 

On  the  morrow  therefore,  he  gave  the  kingdom 


to  the  kind  man  who  had  saved  his  mother  and 
himself  from  the  sea;  and  then  he  went  on  board 
his  ship,  with  Andromeda  and  Danae,  and  sailed 
away  across  the  sea  towards  Argos. 


VIII.     THE    DEADLY    QUOIT. 

When  Danae's  old  father,  the  king  of  Argos, 
heard  that  a  strange  ship  was  coming  over  the  sea 
with  his  daughter  and  her  son  on  board,  he  was 
in  great  distress ;  for  he  remembered  what  the 
Pythia  had  foretold  about  his  death.  So,  without 
waiting  to  see  the  vessel,  he  left  his  palace  in  great 
haste  and  fled  out  of  the  country. 

"  My  daughter's  son  cannot  kill  me  if  I  will  keep 
out  of  his  way,"  he  said. 

But  Perseus  had  no  wish  to  harm  him ;  and  he 
was  very  sad  when  he  learned  that  his  poor  grand- 
father had  gone  away  in  fear  and  without  telling 
any  one  where  he  was  going.  The  people  of  Argos 
welcomed  Danae  to  her  old  home;  and  they  were 
very  proud  of  her  handsome  son,  and  begged  that 
he  would  stay  in  their  city,  so  that  he  might  some 
time  become  their  king.  . 

It  happened  soon  afterwards  that  the  king  of 
a  certain  country  not  far  away  was  holding  games 
and  giving  prizes  to  the  best  runners  and  leapers 

OLD   GREEK    STORIES  —  8 


114 

and  quoit  throwers.  And  Perseus  went  thither 
to  try  his  strength  with  the  other  young  men  of 
the  land ;  for  if  he  should  be  able  to  gain  a  prize, 
his  name  would  become  known  all  over  the  world. 
No  one  in  that  country  knew  who  he  was,  but  all 
wondered  at  his  noble  stature  and  his  strength 
and  skill ;  and  it  was  easy  enough  for  him  to  win 
all  the  prizes. 

One  day,  as  he  was  showing  what  he  could  do, 
he  threw  a  heavy  quoit  a  great  deal  farther  than 
any  had  been  thrown  before.  It  fell  in  the  crowd 
of  lookers-on,  and  struck  a  stranger  who  was  stand- 
ing there.  The  stranger  threw  up  his  hands  and 
sank  upon  the  ground;  and  when  Perseus  ran  to 
help  him,  he  saw  that  he  was  dead.  Now  this  man 
was  none  other  than  Danae's  father,  the  old  king 
of  Argos.  He  had  fled  from  his  kingdom  to  save 
his  life,  and  in  doing  so  had  only  met  his  death. 

Perseus  was  overcome  with  grief,  and  tried  in 
every  way  to  pay  honor  to  the  memory  of  the 
unhappy  king.  The  kingdom  of  Argos  was  now 
rightfully  his  own,  but  he  could  not  bear  to  take 
it  after  having  killed  his  grandfather.  So  he  was 
glad  to  exchange  with  another  king  who  ruled 
over  two  rich  cities,  not  far  away,  called  Mycenae 
and  Tiryns.  And  he  and  Andromeda  lived  happily 
in  Mycenae  for  many  years. 


THE   STORY    OF   ATALANTA. 

I.     THE    BEAR    ON    THE    MOUNTAIN. 

IN  a  sunny  land  in  Greece  called  Arcadia  there 
lived  a  king  and  a  queen  who  had  no  children. 
They  wanted  very  much  to  have  a  son  who  might 
live  to  rule  over  Arcadia  when  the  king  was  dead, 
and  so,  as  the  years  went  by,  they  prayed  to  great 
Jupiter  on  the  mountain  top  that  he  would  send 
them  a  son.  After  a  while  a  child  was  born  to 
them,  but  it  was  a  little  girl.  The  father  was  in  a 
great  rage  with  Jupiter  and  everybody  else. 

"  What  is  a  girl  good  for?"  he  said.  "She  can 
never  do  anything  but  sing,  and  spin,  and  spend 
money.  If  the  child  had  been  a  boy,  he  might  have 
learned  to  do  many  things,  —  to  ride,  and  to  hunt, 
and  to  fight  in  the  wars,  —  and  by  and  by  he  would 
have  been  king  of  Arcadia.  But  this  girl  can  never 
be  a  king." 

Then  he  called  to  one  of  his  men  and  bade  him 
take  the  babe  out  to  a  mountain  where  there  was 
nothing  but  rocks  and  thick  woods,  and  leave  it 

"5 


there  to  be  eaten  up  by  the  wild  bears  that  lived  in 
the  caves  and  thickets.  It  would  be  the  easiest 
way,  he  said,  to  get  rid  of  the  useless  little  creature. 

The  man  carried  the  child  far  up  on  the  moun- 
tain side  and  laid  it  down  on  a  bed  of  moss  in  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock.  The  child  stretched  out 
its  baby  hands  towards  him  and  smiled,  but  he 
turned  away  and  left  it  there,  for  he  did  not  dare 
to  disobey  the  king. 

For  a  whole  night  and  a  whole  day  the  babe  lay 
on  its  bed  of  moss,  wailing  for  its  mother;  but  only 
the  birds  among  the  trees  heard  its  pitiful  cries. 
At  last  it  grew  so  weak  for  want  of  food  that  it 
could  only  moan  and  move  its  head  a  little  from 
side  to  side.  It  would  have  died  before  another 
day  if  nobody  had  cared  for  it. 

Just  before  dark  on  the  second  evening,  a  she- 
bear  came  strolling  down  the  mountain  side  from 
her  den.  She  was  out  looking  for  her  cubs,  for 
some  hunters  had  stolen  them  that  very  day  while 
she  was  away  from  home.  She  heard  the  moans  of 
the  little  babe,  and  wondered  if  it  was  not  one  of 
her  lost  cubs ;  and  when  she  saw  it  lying  so  help- 
less on  the  moss  she  went  to  it  and  looked  at  it 
kindly.  Was  it  possible  that  a  little  bear  could  be 
changed  into  a  pretty  babe  with  fat  white  hands 
and  with  a  beautiful  gold  chain  around  its  neck? 


The  old  bear  did  not  know;  and  as  the  child  looked 
at  her  with  its  bright  black  eyes,  she  growled  softly 
and  licked  its  face  with  her  warm  tongue  and  then 
lay  down  beside  it,  just  as  she  would  have  done 
with  her  own  little  cubs.  The  babe  was  too  young 
to  feel  afraid,  and  it  cuddled  close  to  the  old  bear 
and  felt  that  it  had  found  a  friend.  After  a  while 
it  fell  asleep;  but  the  bear  guarded  it  until  morn- 
ing  and  then  went  down  the  mountain  side  to  look 
for  food. 

In  the  evening,  before  dark,  the  bear  came  again 
and  carried  the  child  to  her  own  den  under  the 
shelter  of  a  rock  where  vines  and  wild  flowers  grew ; 
and  every  day  after  that  she  came  and  gave  the 
child  food  and  played  with  it.  And  all  the  bears 
on  the  mountain  learned  about  the  wonderful  cub 
that  had  been  found,  and  came  to  see  it ;  but  not 
one  of  them  offered  to  harm  it.  And  the  little  girl 
grew  fast  and  became  strong,  and  after  a  while 
could  walk  and  run  among  the  trees  and  rocks  and 
brambles  on  the  round  top  of  the  mountain  ;  but  her 
bear  mother  would  not  allow  her  to  wander  far  from 
the  den  beneath  the  rock  where  the  vines  and  the 
wild  flowers  grew. 

One  day  some  hunters  came  up  the  mountain  to 
look  for  game,  and  one  of  them  pulled  aside  the 
vines  which  grew  in  front  of  the  old  bear's  home. 


He  was  surprised  to  see  the  beautiful  child  lying 
on  the  grass  and  playing  with  the  flowers  which 
she  had  gathered.  But  at  sight  of  him  she 
leaped  to  her  feet  and  bounded  away  like  a 
frightened  deer.  She  led  the  hunters  a  fine 
chase  among  the  trees  and  rocks ;  but  there  were 
a  dozen  of  them,  and  it  was  not  long  till  they 
caught  her. 

The  hunters  had  never  taken  such  game  as  that 
before,  and  they  were  so  well  satisfied  that  they  did 
not  care  to  hunt  any  more  that  day.  The  child 
struggled  and  fought  as  hard  as  she  knew  how,  but 
it  was  of  no  use.  The  hunters  carried  her  down  the 
mountain,  and  took  her  to  the  house  where  they 
lived  on  the  other  side  of  the  forest.  At  first  she 
cried  all  the  time,  for  she  sadly  missed  the  bear 
that  had  been  a  mother  to  her  so  long.  But 
the  hunters  made  a  great  pet  of  her,  and  gave  her 
many  pretty  things  to  play  with,  and  were  very 
kind ;  and  it  was  not  long  till  she  began  to  like  her 
new  home. 

The  hunters  named  her  Atalanta,  and  when  she 
grew  older,  they  made  her  a  bow  and  arrows,  and 
taught  her  how  to  shoot ;  and  they  gave  her  a  light 
spear,  and  showed  her  how  to  carry  it  and  how  to 
hurl  it  at  the  game  or  at  an  enemy.  Then  they 
took  her  with  them  when  they  went  hunting,  and 


rig 

there  was  nothing  in  the  world  that  pleased  her  so 
much  as  roaming  through  the  woods  and  running 
after  the  deer  and  other  wild  animals.  Her  feet 
became  very  swift,  so  that  she  could  run  faster  than 
any  of  the  men ;  and  her  arms  were  so  strong  and 
her  eyes  so  sharp  and  true  that  with  her  arrow  or 
her  spear  she  never  missed  the  mark.  And  she 
grew  up  to  be  very  tall  and  graceful,  and  was 
known  throughout  all  Arcadia  as  the  fleet-footed 
huntress. 

II.     THE    BRAND    ON    THE    HEARTH. 

Now,  not  very  far  from  the  land  of  Arcadia  there 
was  a  little  city  named  Calydon.  It  lay  in  the 
midst  of  rich  wheat  fields  and  fruitful  vineyards; 
but  beyond  the  vineyards  there  was  a  deep  dense 
forest  where  many  wild  beasts  lived.  The  king  of 
Calydon  was  named  QEneus,  and  he  dwelt  in  a 
white  palace  with  his  wife  Althea  and  his  boys 
and  girls.  His  kingdom  was  so  small  that  it  was 
not  much  trouble  to  govern  it,  and  so  he  spent  the 
most  of  his  time  in  hunting  or  in  plowing  or  in 
looking  after  his  grape  vines.  He  was  said  to  be 
a  very  brave  man,  and  he  was  the  friend  of  all  the 
great  heroes  of  that  heroic  time. 

The  two  daughters  of  CEneus  and  Althea  were 
famed  all  over  the  world  for  their  beauty ;  and  one 


120 

of  them  was  the  wife  of  the  hero  Hercules,  who 
had  freed  Prometheus  from  his  chains,  and  done 
many  other  mighty  deeds.  The  six  sons  of  CEneus 
and  Althea  were  noble,  handsome  fellows ;  but  the 
noblest  and  handsomest  of  them  all  was  Meleager, 
the  youngest. 

When  Meleager  was  a  tiny  babe  only  seven 
days  old,  a  strange  thing  happened  in  the  white 
palace  of  the  king.  Queen  Althea  awoke  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  and  saw  a  fire  blazing  on  the 
hearth.  She  wondered  what  it  could  mean ;  and 
she  lay  quite  still  by  the  side  of  the  babe,  and 
looked  and  listened.  Three  strange  women  were 
standing  by  the  hearth.  They  were  tall,  and  two  of 
them  were  beautiful,  and  the  faces  of  all  were  stern. 
Althea  knew  at  once  that  they  were  the  Fates  who 
give  gifts  of  some  kind  to  every  child  that  is  born, 
and  who  say  whether  his  life  shall  be  a  happy 
one  or  full  of  sadness  and  sorrow. 

"  What  shall  we  give  to  this  child  ? "  said  the 
eldest  and  sternest  of  the  three  strangers.  Her 
name  was  Atropos,  and  she  held  a  pair  of  sharp 
shears  in  her  hand. 

"  I  give  him  a  brave  heart,"  said  the  youngest 
and  fairest.  Her  name  was  Clotho,  and  she  held  a 
distaff  full  of  flax,  from  which  she  was  spinning  a 
golden  thread. 


121 


"And  I  give  him  a  gentle,  noble  mind,"  said  the 
dark-haired  one,  whose  name  was  Lachesis.  She 
gently  drew  out  the  thread  which  Clotho  spun,  and 
turning  to  stern  Atropos,  said :  "  Lay  aside  those 
shears,  sister,  and  give  the  child  your  gift." 

"  I  give  him  life  until  this  brand  shall  be  burned 
to  ashes, "  was  the  answer ;  and  Atropos  took  a 
small  stick  of  wood  and  laid  it  on  the  burning  coals. 

The  three  sisters  waited  till  the  stick  was  ablaze, 
and  then  they  were  gone.  Althea  sprang  up 
quickly.  She  saw  nothing  but  the  fire  on  the 
hearth  and  the  stick  burning  slowly  away.  She 
made  haste  to  pour  water  upon  the  blaze,  and  when 
every  spark  was  put  out,  she  took  the  charred  stick 
and  put  it  into  a  strong  chest  where  she  kept  her 
treasures,  and  locked  it  up. 

"  I  know  that  the  child's  life  is  safe,"  she  said, 
"  so  long  as  that  stick  is  kept  unburned." 

And  so,  as  the  years  went  by,  Meleager  grew  up 
.to  be  a  brave  young  man,  so  gentle  and  noble  that 
his  name  became  known  in  every  land  of  Greece. 
He  did  many  daring  deeds  and,  with  other  heroes, 
went  on  a  famous  voyage  across  the  seas  in  search 
of  a  marvelous  fleece  of  gold ;  and  when  he  re- 
turned to  Calydon  the  people  declared  that  he  was 
the  worthiest  of  the  sons  of  QEneus  to  become  their 
king. 


122 


III.     THE    GIFTS    ON    THE    ALTARS. 

Now  it  happened  one  summer  that  the  vineyards 
of  Calydon  were  fuller  of  grapes  than  they  had  ever 
been  before,  and  there  was  so  much  wheat  in  the 
fields  that  the  people  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  it. 

"  I  will  tell  you  what  to  do,"  said  King  CEneus. 
"  We  will  have  a  thanksgiving  day,  and  we  will  give 
some  of  the  grain  and  some  of  the  fruit  to  the 
Mighty  Beings  who  sit  among  the  clouds  on  the 
mountain  top.  For  it  is  from  them  that  the  sun- 
shine and  the  fair  weather  and  the  moist  winds 
and  the  warm  rains  have  come;  and  without  their 
aid  we  could  never  have  had  so  fine  a  harvest." 

The  very  next  day  the  king  and  the  people  of 
Calydon  went  out  into  the  fields  and  vineyards  to 
offer  up  their  thank  offerings.  Here  and  there  they 
built  little  altars  of  turf  and  stones  and  laid  dry- 
grass  and  twigs  upon  them ;  and  then  on  top  of  the 
twigs  they  put  some  of  the  largest  bunches  of 
grapes  and  some  of  the  finest  heads  of  wheat,  which 
they  thought  would  please  the  Mighty  Beings  who 
had  sent  them  so  great  plenty. 

There  was  one  altar  for  Ceres,  who  had  shown 
men  how  to  sow  grain,  and  one  for  Bacchus,  who 
had  told  them  about  the  grape,  and  one  for  wing- 
footed  Mercury,  who  comes  in  the  clouds,  and  one 


123 

for  Athena,  the  queen  of  the  air,  and  one  for  the 
keeper  of  the  winds,  and  one  for  the  giver  of  light, 
and  one  for  the  driver  of  the  golden  sun  car,  and 
one  for  the  king  of  the  sea,  and  one  —  which  was 
the  largest  of  all  —  for  Jupiter,  the  mighty  thunderer 
who  sits  upon  the  mountain  top  and  rules  the 
world.  And  when  everything  was  ready,  King 
CEneus  gave  the  word,  and  fire  was  touched  to 
the  grass  and  the  twigs  upon  the  altars;  and  the 
grapes  and  the  wheat  that  had  been  laid  there 
were  burned  up.  Then  the  people  shouted  and 
danced,  for  they  fancied  that  in  that  way  the 
thank  offerings  were  sent  right  up  to  Ceres 
and  Bacchus  and  Mercury  and  Athena  and  all 
the  rest.  And  in  the  evening  they  went  home 
with  glad  hearts,  feeling  that  they  had  done 
right. 

But  they  had  forgotten  one  of  the  Mighty  Beings. 
They  had  not  raised  any  altar  to  Diana,  the  fair 
huntress  and  queen  of  the  woods,  and  they  had  not 
offered  her  a  single  grape  or  a  single  grain  of  wheat. 
They  had  not  intended  to  slight  her ;  but,  to  tell  the 
truth,  there  were  so  many  others  that  they  had  never 
once  thought  about  her. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  Diana  cared  anything  at 
all  for  the  fruit  or  the  grain ;  but  it  made  her  very 
angry  to  think  that  she  should  be  forgotten. 


124 

"  I'll  show  them  that  I  am  not  to  be  slighted  in 
this  way,"  she  said. 

All  went  well,  however,  until  the  next  summer; 
and  the  people  of  Calydon  were  very  happy,  for  it 
looked  as  though  there  would  be  a  bigger  harvest 
than  ever. 

"  I  tell  you,"  said  old  King  CEneus,  looking  over 
his  fields  and  his  vineyards,  "  it  pays  to  give  thanks. 
We'll  have  another  thanksgiving  as  soon  as  the 
grapes  begin  to  ripen." 

But  even  then  he  did  not  think  of  Diana. 

The  very  next  day  the  largest  and  fiercest  wild 
boar  that  anybody  had  ever  seen  came  rushing  out 
of  the  forest.  He  had  two  long  tusks  which  stuck 
far  out  of  his  mouth  on  either  side  and  were  as 
sharp  as  knives,  and  the  stiff  bristles  on  his  back 
were  as  large  and  as  long  as  knitting  needles.  As 
he  went  tearing  along  towards  Calydon,  champing 
his  teeth  and  foaming  at  the  mouth,  he  was  a  fright- 
ful thing  to  look  at,  I  tell  you.  Everybody  fled 
before  him.  He  rushed  into  the  wheat  fields  and 
tore  up  all  the  grain ;  he  went  into  the  vineyards 
and  broke  down  all  the  vines ;  he  rooted  up  all  the 
trees  in  the  orchards ;  and,  when  there  was  nothing 
else  to  do,  he  went  into  the  pasture  lands  among  the 
hills  and  killed  the  sheep  that  were  feeding  there. 
He  was  so  fierce  and  so  fleet  of  foot  that  the  bravest 


125 

warrior  hardly  dared  to  attack  him.  His  thick  skin 
was  proof  against  arrows  and  against  such  spears  as 
the  people  of  Calydon  had ;  and  I  do  not  know  how 
many  men  he  killed  with  those  terrible  razor  tusks 
of  his.  For  weeks  he  had  pretty  much  his  own 
way,  and  the  only  safe  place  for  anybody  was  inside 
of  the  walls. 

When  he  had  laid  waste  the  whole  country  he 
went  back  into  the  edge  of  the  forest;  but  the 
people  were  so  much  afraid  of  him  that  they  lived 
in  dread  every  day  lest  he  should  come  again  and 
tear  down  the  gates  of  the  city. 

"  We  must  have  forgotten  somebody  when  we 
gave  thanks  last  year,"  said  King  CEneus.  "  Who 
could  it  have  been  ? " 

And  then  he  thought  of  Diana. 

"  Diana,  the  queen  of  the  chase,"  said  he,  "  has 
sent  this  •  monster  to  punish  us  for  forgetting  her. 
I  am  sure  that  we  shall  remember  her  now  as 
long  as  we  live." 

Then  he  sent  messengers  into  all  the  countries 
near  Calydon,  asking  the  bravest  men  and  skillfullest 
hunters  to  come  at  a  certain  time  and  help  him 
hunt  and  kill  the  great  wild  boar.  Very  many  of 
these  men  had  been  with  Meleager  in  that  wonder- 
ful voyage  in  search  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  and  he 
felt  sure  they  would  come. 


126 


IV.     THE    HUNT    IN    THE    FOREST. 

When  the  day  came  which  King  CEneus  had  set, 
there  was  a  wonderful  gathering  of  men  at  Calydon. 
The  greatest  heroes  in  the  world  were  there;  and 
every  one  was  fully  armed,  and  expected  to  have 
fine  sport  hunting  the  terrible  wild  boar.  With  the 
warriors  from  the  south  there  came  a  tall  maiden 
armed  with  bow  and  arrows  and  a  long  hunting 
spear.  It  was  our  friend  Atalanta,  the  huntress. 

"  My  daughters  are  having  a  game  of  ball  in  the 
garden,"  said  old  King  QEneus.  "  Wouldn't  you 
like  to  put  away  your  arrows  and  your  spear,  and 
go  and  play  with  them  ?  " 

Atalanta  shook  her  head  and  lifted  her  chin  as  if 
in  disdain. 

"  Perhaps  you  would  rather  stay  with  the  queen, 
and  look  at  the  women  spin  and  weave,"  said 
CEneus. 

"  No,"  answered  Atalanta,  "  I  am  going  with  the 
warriors  to  hunt  the  wild  boar  in  the  forest !  " 

How  all  the  men  opened  their  eyes !  They  had 
never  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  a  girl  going  out  with 
heroes  to  hunt  wild  boars. 

"  If  she  goes,  then  I  will  not,"  said  one. 

"  Nor  I,  either,"  said  another. 

"  Nor  I,"  said  a  third.     "  Why,  the  whole  world 


127 

would  laugh  at  us,  and  we  should  never  hear  the 
end  of  it." 

Several  threatened  to  go  home  at  once ;  and  two 
brothers  of  Queen  Althea,  rude,  unmannerly  fel- 
lows, loudly  declared  that  the  hunt  was  for  heroes 
and  not  for  puny  girls. 

But  Atalanta  only  grasped  her  spear  more  firmly 
and  stood  up,  tall  and  straight,  in  the  gateway  of  the 
palace.  Just  then  a  handsome  young  man  came  for- 
ward. It  was  Meleager. 

"  What's  this  ?  "  he  cried.  "  Who  says  that  Ata- 
lanta shall  not  go  to  the  hunt  ?  You  are  afraid  that 
she'll  be  braver  than  you  —  that  is  all.  Pretty  heroes 
you  are !  Let  all  such  cowards  go  home  at  once." 

But  nobody  went,  and  it  was  settled  then  and 
there  that  the  maiden  should  have  her  own  way. 
And  yet  the  brothers  of  Queen  Althea  kept  on 
muttering  and  complaining. 

For  nine  days  the  heroes  and  huntsmen  feasted 
in  the  halls  of  King  GEneus,  and  early  on  the  tenth 
they  set  out  for  the  forest.  Soon  the  great  beast 
was  found,  and  he  came  charging  out  upon  his  foes. 
The  heroes  hid  behind  the  trees  or  climbed  up 
among  the  branches,  for  they  had  not  expected  to 
see  so  terrible  a  creature.  He  stood  in  the  middle 
of  a  little  open  space,  tearing  up  the  ground  with 
his  tusks.  The  white  foam  rolled  from  his  mouth, 


"YOU   OUGHT  TO    HAVE   SEEN   THE   TALL   HUNTRESS    MAIDEN  THEN." 
(128) 


129 

his  eyes  glistened  red  like  fire,  and  he  grunted  so 
fiercely  that  the  woods  and  hills  echoed  with  fear- 
ful sounds. 

Then  one  of  the  bravest  of  the  men  threw  his 
spear.  But  that  only  made  the  beast  fiercer  than 
ever;  he  charged  upon  the  warrior,  caught  him 
before  he  could  save  himself,  and  tore  him  in 
pieces  with  his  tusks«  Another  man  ventured  too 
far  from  his  hiding-place  and  was  also  overtaken 
and  killed.  One  of  the  oldest  and  noblest  of  the 
heroes  leveled  his  spear  and  threw  it  with  all  his 
force ;  but  it  only  grazed  the  boar's  tough  skin 
and  glanced  upward  and  pierced  the  heart  of  a 
warrior  on  the  other  side.  The  boar  was  getting 
the  best  of  the  fight. 

Atalanta  now  ran  forward  and  threw  her  spear. 
It  struck  the  boar  in  the  back,  and  a  great  stream 
of  blood  gushed  out.  A  warrior  let  fly  an  arrow 
which  put  out  one  of  the  beast's  eyes.  Then  Melea- 
ger  rushed  up  and  pierced  his  heart  with  his  spear. 
The  boar  could  no  longer  stand  up  ;  but  he  fought 
fiercely  for  some  moments,  and  then  rolled  over,  dead. 

The  heroes  then  cut  off  the  beast's  head.  It  was 
as  much  as  six  of  them  could  carry.  Then  they 
took  the  skin  from  his  great  body  and  offered  it  to 
Meleager  as  a  prize,  because  he  had  given  the  death 
wound  to  the  wild  boar.  But  Meleager  said : 

OLD   GREEK   STORIES  —  9 


130 

"It  belongs  to  Atalanta,  because  it  was  she  who 
gave  him  the  very  first  wound."  And  he  gave  it  to 
her  as  the  prize  of  honor. 

You  ought  to  have  seen  the  tall  huntress  maiden 
then,  as  she  stood  among  the  trees  with  the  boar's 
skin  thrown  over  her  left  shoulder  and  reaching  down 
to  her  feet.  She  had  never  looked  so  much  like 
the  queen  of  the  woods.  But  the  rude  brothers  of 
Queen  Althea  were  vexed  to  think  that  a  maiden 
should  win  the  prize,  and  they  began  to  make 
trouble.  One  of  them  snatched  Atalanta's  spear 
from  her  hand,  and  dragged  the  prize  from  her 
shoulders,  and  the  other  pushed  her  rudely  and 
bade  her  go  back  to  Arcadia  and  live  again  with 
the  she-bears  on  the  mountain  side.  All  this  vexed 
Meleager,  and  he  tried  to  make  his  uncles  give 
back  the  spear  and  the  prize,  and  stop  their  unman- 
nerly talk.  But  they  grew  worse  and  worse,  and  at 
last  set  upon  Meleager,  and  would  have  killed  him 
if  he  had  not  drawn  his  sword  to  defend  himself. 
A  fight  followed,  and  the  rude  fellows  struck  right 
and  left  as  though  they  were  blind.  Soon  both 
were  stretched  dead  upon  the  ground.  Some  who 
did  not  see  the  fight  said  that  Meleager  killed 
them,  but  I  would  rather  believe  that  they  killed 
each  other  in  their  drunken  fury. 

And   now  all  the  company  started   back   to  the 


city.  Some  carried  the  boar's  huge  head,  and  some 
the  different  parts  of  his  body,  while  others  had 
made  biers  of  the  green  branches,  and  bore  upon 
them  the  dead  bodies  of  those  who  had  been  slain. 
It  was  indeed  a  strange  procession. 

A  young  man  who  did  not  like  Meleager,  had 
run  on  in  front  and  had  reached  the  city  before 
the  rest  of  the  company  had  fairly  started.  Queen 
Althea  was  standing  at  the  door  of  the  palace,  and 
when  she  saw  him  she  asked  what  had  happened  in 
the  forest.  He  told  her  at  once  that  Meleager  had 
killed  her  brothers,  for  he  knew  that,  with  all  their 
faults,  she  loved  them  very  dearly.  It  was  terrible 
to  see  her  grief.  She  shrieked,  and  tore  her  hair, 
and  rushed  wildly  about  from  room  to  room.  Her 
senses  left  her,  and  she  did  not  know  what  she 
was  doing. 

It  was  the  custom  at  that  time  for  people  to 
avenge  the  death  of  their  kindred,  and  her  only 
thought  was  how  to  punish  the  murderer  of  her 
brothers.  In  her  madness  she  forgot  that  Meleager 
was  her  son.  Then  she  thought  of  the  three  Fates 
and  of  the  unburned  firebrand  which  she  had  locked 
up  in  her  chest  so  many  years  before.  She  ran  and 
got  the  stick  and  threw  it  into  the  fire  that  was 
burning  on  the  hearth. 

It    kindled   at  once,   and    she  watched    it    as    it 


132 

blazed  up  brightly.  Then  it  began  to  turn  into 
ashes,  and  as  the  last  spark  died  out,  the  noble 
Meleager,  who  was  walking  by  the  side  of  Atalanta, 
dropped  to  the  ground  dead. 

When  they  carried  the  news  to  Althea  she  said 
not  a  word,  for  then  she  knew  what  she  had  done, 
and  her  heart  was  broken.  She  turned  silently  away 
and  went  to  her  own  room.  When  the  king  came 
home  a  few  minutes  later,  he  found  her  dead. 

So  ended  the  hunt  in  the  wood  of  Calydon. 

V.     THE    RACE    FOR   A    WIFE. 

After  the  death  of  Meleager,  Atalanta  went  back 
to  her  old  home  among  the  mountains  of  Arcadia. 
She  was  still  the  swift-footed  huntress,  and  she 
was  never  so  happy  as  when  in  the  green  woods 
wandering  among  the  trees  or  chasing  the  wild 
deer.  All  the  world  had  heard  about  her,  how- 
ever; and  the  young  heroes  in  the  lands  nearest 
to  Arcadia  did  nothing  else  but  talk  about  her 
beauty  and  her  grace  and  her  swiftness  of  foot 
and  her  courage.  Of  course  every  one  of  these 
young  fellows  wanted  her  to  become  his  wife;  and 
she  might  have  been  a  queen  any  day  if  she  had 
only  said  the  word,  for  the  richest  king  in  Greece 
would  have  been  glad  to  marry  her.  But  she  cared 


133 

nothing  for  any  of  the  young  men,  and  she  liked 
the  freedom  of  the  green  woods  better  than  all  the 
fine  things  she  might  have  had  in  a  palace. 

The  young  men  would  not  take  "  No ! "  for  an 
answer,  however.  They  could  not  believe  that  she 
really  meant  it,  and  so  they  kept  coming  and  stay- 
ing until  the  woods  of  Arcadia  were  full  of  them, 
and  there  was  no  getting  along  with  them  at  all. 
So,  when  she  could  think  of  no  other  way  to  get 
rid  of  them,  Atalanta  called  them  together  and  said : 

"  You  want  to  marry  me,  do  you  ?  Well,  if  any 
one  of  you  would  like  to  run  a  race  with  me  from 
this  mountain  to  the  bank  of  the  river  over  there,  he 
may  do  so ;  and  I  will  be  the  wife  of  the  one  who 
outruns  me." 

"  Agreed !  agreed !  "  cried  all  the  young  fellows. 

"  But,  listen !  "  she  said.  "  Whoever  tries  this  race 
must  also  agree  that  if  I  outrun  him,  he  must  lose 
his  life." 

Ah,  what  long  faces  they  all  had  then!  About 
half  of  them  drew  away  and  went  home. 

"  But  won't  you  give  us  the  start  of  you  a  little  ?  " 
asked  the  others. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  she  answered.  "  I  will  give  you  the 
start  by  a  hundred  paces.  But  remember,  if  I  over- 
take any  one  before  he  reaches  the  river,  he  shall 
lose  his  head  that  very  day." 


134 

Several  others  now  found  that  they  were  in  ill 
health  or  that  business  called  them  home ;  and  when 
they  were  next  looked  for,  they  were  not  to  be  found. 
But  a  good  many  who  had  had  some  practice  in 
sprinting  across  the  country  stayed  and  made  up 
their  minds  to  try  their  luck.  Could  a  mere  girl 
outrun  such  fine  fellows  as  they?  Nonsense! 

And  so  it  happened  that  a  race  was  run  almost 
every  day.  And  almost  every  day  some  poor  fellow 
lost  his  head ;  for  the  fleetest-footed  sprinter  in  all 
Greece  was  overtaken  by  Atalanta  long  before  he 
could  reach  the  river  bank.  But  other  young  men 
kept  coming  and  coming,  and  no  sooner  had  one 
been  put  out  of  the  way  than  another  took  his  place. 

One  day  there  came  from  a  distant  town  a  hand- 
some, tall  young  man  named  Meilanion. 

"  You'd  better  not  run  with  me,"  said  Atalanta, 
"for  I  shall  be  sure  to  overtake  you,  and  that  will 
be  the  end  of  you." 

"  We'll  see  about  that,"  said  Meilanion. 

Now  Meilanion,  before  coming  to  try  his  chance, 
had  talked  with  Venus,  the  queen  of  love,  who 
lived  with  Jupiter  among  the  clouds  on  the  moun- 
tain top.  And  he  was  so  handsome  and  gentle  and 
wise  that  Venus  took  pity  on  him,  and  gave  him 
three  golden  apples  and  told  him  what  to  do. 

Well,  when  all  was  ready  for  the  race,  Atalanta 


135 

tried  again  to  persuade  Meilanion  not  to  run,  for 
she  also  took  pity  on  him. 

"  I'll  be  sure  to  overtake  you,"  she  said. 

"All  right!"  said  Meilanion,  and  away  he  sped; 
but  he  had  the  three  golden  apples  in  his  pocket. 

Atalanta  gave  him  a  good  start,  and  then  she 
followed  after,  as  swift  as  an  arrow  shot  from  the 
bow.  Meilanion  was  not  a  very  fast  runner,  and  it 
.would  not  be  hard  for  her  to  overtake  him.  She 
thought  that  she  would  let  him  get  almost  to  the 
goal,  for  she  really  pitied  him.  He  heard  her  com- 
ing close  behind  him ;  he  heard  her  quick  breath  as 
she  gained  on  him  very  fast.  Then  he  threw  one 
of  the  golden  apples  over  his  shoulder. 

Now,  if  there  was  anything  in  the  world  that 
Atalanta  admired,  it  was  a  bright  stone  or  a  pretty 
piece  of  yellow  gold.  As  the  apple  fell  to  the 
ground  she  saw  how  beautiful  it  was,  and  she 
stopped  to  pick  it  up ;  and  while  she  was  doing  this, 
Meilanion  gained  a  good  many  paces.  But  what 
of  that?  In  a  minute  she  was  as  close  behind  him 
as  ever.  And  yet,  she  really  did  pity  him. 

Just  then  Meilanion  threw  the  second  apple  over 
his  shoulder.  It  was  handsomer  and  larger  than 
the  first,  and  Atalanta  could  not  bear  the  thought 
of  allowing  some  one  else  to  get  it.  So  she  stopped 
to  pick  it  up  from  among  the  long  grass,  where  it 


136 

had  fallen.  It  took  somewhat  longer  to  find  it  than 
she  had  expected,  and  when  she  looked  up  again 
Meilanion  was  a  hundred  feet  ahead  of  her.  But 
that  was  no  matter.  She  could  easily  overtake  him. 
And  yet,  how  she  did  pity  the  foolish  young  man ! 

Meilanion  heard  her  speeding  like  the  wind  be- 
hind him.  He  took  the  third  apple  and  threw  it 
over  to  one  side  of  the  path  where  the  ground 
sloped  towards  the  river.  Atalanta's  quick  eye  saw 
that  it  was  far  more  beautiful  than  either  of  the 
others.  If  it  were  not  picked  up  at  once  it  would 
roll  down  into  the  deep  water  and  be  lost,  and  that 
would  never  do.  She  turned  aside  from  her  course 
and  ran  after  it.  It  was  easy  enough  to  overtake 
the  apple,  but  while  she  was  doing  so  Meilanion 
gained  upon  her  again.  He  was  almost  to  the  goal. 
How  she  strained  every  muscle  now  to  overtake 
him !  But,  after  all,  she  felt  that  she  did  not  care 
very  much.  He  was  the  handsomest  young  man 
that  she  had  ever  seen,  and  he  had  given  her  three 
golden  apples.  It  would  be  a  great  pity  if  he 
should  have  to  die.  And  so  she  let  him  reach  the 
goal  first. 

After  that,  of  course,  Atalanta  became  Meilanion's 
wife.  And  he  took  her  with  him  to  his  distant 
home,  and  there  they  lived  happily  together  for 
many,  many  years. 


THE  HORSE   AND   THE   OLIVE. 

I.     FINDING   A    KING. 

ON  a  steep  stony  hill  in  Greece  there  lived  in 
early  times  a  few  very  poor  people  who  had  not  yet 
learned  to  build  houses.  They  made  their  homes 
in  little  caves  which  they  dug  in  the  earth  or  hol- 
lowed out  among  the  rocks ;  and  their  food  was  the 
flesh  of  wild  animals,  which  they  hunted  in  the 
woods,  with  now  and  then  a  few  berries  or  nuts. 
They  did  not  even  know  how  to  make  bows  and 
arrows,  but  used  slings  and  clubs  and  sharp  sticks 
for  weapons ;  and  the  little  clothing  which  they  had 
was  made  of  skins.  They  lived  on  the  top  of  the 
hill,  because  they  were  safe  there  from  the  savage 
beasts  of  the  great  forest  around  them,  and  safe  also 
from  the  wild  men  who  sometimes  roamed  through 
the  land.  The  hill  was  so  steep  on  every  side  that 
there  was  no  way  of  climbing  it  save  by  a  single 
narrow  footpath  which  was  always  guarded  by 
some  one  at  the  top. 

One  day  when  the  men  were  hunting  in  the  woods, 

137 


138 

they  found  a  strange  youth  whose  face  was  so  fair 
and  who  was  dressed  so  beautifully  that  they  could 
hardly  believe  him  to  be  a  man  like  themselves. 
His  body  was  so  slender  and  lithe,  and  he  moved  so 
nimbly  among  the  trees,  that  they  fancied  him  to  be 
a  serpent  in  the  guise  of  a  human  being ;  and  they 
stood  still  in  wonder  and  alarm.  The  young  man 
spoke  to  them,  but  they  could  not  understand  a 
word  that  he  said ;  then  he  made  signs  to  them 
that  he  was  hungry,  and  they  gave  him  something 
to  eat  and  were  no  longer  afraid.  Had  they  been 
like  the  wild  men  of  the  woods,  they  might  have 
killed  him  at  once.  But  they  wanted  their  women 
and  children  to  see  the  serpent  man,  as  they  called 
him,  and  hear  him  talk ;  and  so  they  took  him  home 
with  them  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  They  thought 
that  after  they  had  made  a  show  of  him  for  a  few 
days,  they  would  kill  him  and  offer  his  body  as  a 
sacrifice  to  the  unknown  being  whom  they  dimly 
fancied  to  have  some  sort  of  control  over  their 
lives. 

But  the  young  man  was  so  fair  and  gentle  that, 
after  they  had  all  taken  a  look  at  him,  they  began 
to  think  it  would  be  a  great  pity  to  harm  him.  So 
they  gave  him  food  and  treated  him  kindly;  and  he 
sang  songs  to  them  and  played  with  their  children, 
and  made  them  happier  than  they  had  been  for 


139 

many  a  day.  In  a  short  time  he  learned  to  talk  in 
their  language ;  and  he  told  them  that  his  name 
was  Cecrops,  and  that  he  had  been  shipwrecked  on 
the  seacoast  not  far  away ;  and  then  he  told  them 
many  strange  things  about  the  land  from  which  he 
had  come  and  to  which  he  would  never  be  able  to 
return.  The  poor  people  listened  and  wondered ; 
and  it  was  not  long  until  they  began  to  love 
him  and  to  look  up  to  him  as  one  wiser  than 
themselves.  Then  they  came  to  ask  him  about 
everything  that  was  to  be  done,  and  there  was 
not  one  of  them  who  refused  to  do  his  bidding. 

So  Cecrops  —  the  serpent  man,  as  they  still 
called  him  —  became  the  king  of  the  poor  people 
on  the  hill.  He  taught  them  how  to  make  bows 
and  arrows,  and  how  to  set  nets  for  birds,  and  how 
to  take  fish  with  hooks.  He  led  them  against  the 
savage  wild  men  of  the  woods,  and  helped  them  kill 
the  fierce  beasts  that  had  been  so  great  a  terror  to 
them.  He  showed  them  how  to  build  houses  of 
wood  and  to  thatch  them  with  the  reeds  which 
grew  in  the  marshes.  He  taught  them  how  to  live 
in  families  instead  of  herding  together  like  sense- 
less beasts  as  they  had  always  done  before.  And 
he  told  them  about  great  Jupiter  and  the  Mighty 
Folk  who  lived  amid  the  clouds  on  the  mountain 
top. 


140 


II.     CHOOSING   A    NAME. 


By  and  by,  instead  of  the  wretched  caves  among 
the  rocks,  there  was  a  little  town  on  the  top  of  the 
hill,  with  neat  houses  and  a  market  place;  and 
around  it  was  a  strong  wall  with  a  single  narrow 
gate  just  where  the  footpath  began  to  descend  to 
the  plain.  But  as  yet  the  place  had  no  name. 

One  morning  while  the  king  and  his  wise  men 
were  sitting  together  in  the  market  place  and  plan- 
ning how  to  make  the  town  become  a  rich,  strong 
city,  two  strangers  were  seen  in  the  street.  Nobody 
could  tell  how  they  came  there.  The  guard  at  the 
gate  had  not  seen  them;  and  no  man  had  ever 
dared  to  climb  the  narrow  footway  without  his 
leave.  But  there  the  two  strangers  stood.  One 
was  a  man,  the  other  a  woman ;  and  they  were  so 
tall,  and  their  faces  were  so  grand  and  noble,  that 
those  who  saw  them  stood  still  and  wondered  and 
said  not  a  word. 

The  man  had  a  robe  of  purple  and  green 
wrapped  round  his  body,  and  he  bore  in  one  hand 
a  strong  staff  with  three  sharp  spear  points  at  one 
end.  The  woman  was  not  beautiful,  but  she  had 
wonderful  gray  eyes ;  and  in  one  hand  she  carried 
a  spear  and  in  the  other  a  shield  of  curious  work- 
manship. 


141 

"  What  is  the  name  of  this  town  ? "  asked  the 
man. 

The  people  stared  at  him  in  wonder,  and  hardly 
understood  his  meaning.  Then  an  old  man  an- 
swered and  said,  "  It  has  no  name.  We  who  live 
on  this  hill  used  to  be  called  Cranae ;  but  since 
King  Cecrops  came,  we  have  been  so  busy  that 
we  have  had  no  time  to  think  of  names." 

"  Where  is  this  King  Cecrops  ? "  asked  the 
woman. 

"  He  is  in  the  market  place  with  the  wise  men," 
was  the  answer. 

"  Lead  us  to  him  at  once,"  said  the  man. 

When  Cecrops  saw  the  two  strangers  coming  into 
the  market  place,  he  stood  up  and  waited  for  them 
to  speak.  The  man  spoke  first: 

"  I  am  Neptune,"  said  he,  "  and  I  rule  the  sea." 

"And  I  am  Athena,"  said  the  woman,  uand  I 
give  wisdom  to  men." 

"  I  hear  that  you  are  planning  to  make  your 
town  become  a  great  city,"  said  Neptune,  "  and  I 
have  come  to  help  you.  Give  my  name  to  the 
place,  and  let  me  be  your  protector  and  patron,  and 
the  wealth  of  the  whole  world  shall  be  yours. 
'Ships  from  every  land  shall  bring  you  merchan- 
dise and  gold  and  silver;  and  you  shall  be  the 
masters  of  the  sea." 


142 

"My  uncle  makes  you  fair  promises/'  said  Athena; 
"  but  listen  to  me.  Give  my  name  to  your  city,  and 
let  me  be  your  patron,  and  I  will  give  you  that 
which  gold  cannot  buy :  I  will  teach  you  how  to 
do  a  thousand  things  of  which  you  now  know 
nothing.  I  will  make  your  city  my  favorite  home, 
and  I  will  give  you  wisdom  that  shall  sway  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  all  men  until  the  end  of  time." 

The  king  bowed,  and  turned  to  the  people,  who 
had  all  crowded  into  the  market  place.  "  Which  of 
these  mighty  ones  shall  we  elect  to  be  the  protector 
and  patron  of  our  city  ? "  he  asked.  "  Neptune 
offers  us  wealth;  Athena  promises  us  wisdom. 
Which  shall  we  choose  ? " 

"  Neptune  and  wealth  !  "  cried  many. 

"  Athena  and  wisdom  !  "  cried  as  many  others. 

At  last  when  it  was  plain  that  the  people  could 
not  agree,  an  old  man  whose  advice  was  always 
heeded  stood  up  and  said : 

"  These  mighty  ones  have  only  given  us  prom- 
ises, and  they  have  promised  things  of  which 
we  are  ignorant.  For  who  among  us  knows  what 
wealth  is  or  what  wisdom  is  ?  Now,  if  they  would 
only  give  us  some  real  gift,  right  now  and  right 
here,  which  we  can  see  and  handle,  we  should  know 
better  how  to  choose." 

"  That  is  true !  that  is  true !  "  cried  the  people, 


143 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  the  strangers,  "  we  will 
each  give  you  a  gift,  right  now  and  right  here,  and 
then  you  may  choose  between  us." 

Neptune  gave  the  first  gift.  He  stood  on  the 
highest  point  of  the  hill  where  the  rock  was  bare, 
and  bade  the  people  see  his  power.  He  raised 
his  three-pointed  spear  high  in  the  air,  and  then 
brought  it  down  with  great  force.  Lightning 
flashed,  the  earth  shook,  and  the  rock  was  split 
half  way  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill.  Then 
out  of  the  yawning  crevice  there  sprang  a  won- 
derful creature,  white  as  milk,  with  long  slender 
legs,  an  arching  neck,  and  a  mane  and  tail  of  silk. 

The  people  had  never  seen  anything  like  it 
before,  and  they  thought  it  a  new  kind  of  bear 
or  wolf  or  wild  boar  that  had  come  out  of  the 
rock  to  devour  them.  Some  of  them  ran  and  hid 
in  their  houses,  while  others  climbed  upon  the 
wall,  and  still  others  grasped  their  weapons  in 
alarm.  But  when  they  saw  the  creature  stand 
quietly  by  the  side  of  Neptune,  they  lost  their  fear 
and  came  closer  to  see  and  admire  its  beauty. 

"  This  is  my  gift,"  said  Neptune.  "  This  animal 
will  carry  your  burdens  for  you ;  he  will  draw 
your  chariots ;  he  will  pull  your  wagons  and  your 
plows ;  he  will  let  you  sit  on  his  back  and  will 
run  with  you  faster  than  the  wind." 


W 
Q 
fc 
O 


145 

"  What  is  his  name  ?  "  asked  the  king. 

"  His  name  is  Horse,"  answered  Neptune. 

Then  Athena  came  forward.  She  stood  a  mo- 
ment on  a  green  grassy  plot  where  the  children  of 
the  town  liked  to  play  in  the  evening.  Then  she 
drove  the  point  of  her  spear  deep  down  in  the  soil. 
At  once  the  air  was  filled  with  music,  and  out  of 
the  earth  there  sprang  a  tree  with  slender  branches 
and  dark  green  leaves  and  white  flowers  and  violet 
green  fruit. 

"  This  is  my  gift,"  said  Athena.  "  This  tree  will 
give  you  food  when  you  are  hungry ;  it  will  shelter 
you  from  the  sun  when  you  are  faint ;  it  will  beau- 
tify your  city;  and  the  oil  from  its  fruit  will  be 
sought  by  all  the  world." 

"  What  is  it  called  ? "  asked  the  king. 

•'  It  is  called  Olive,"  answered  Athena. 

Then  the  king  and  his  wise  men  began  to  talk 
about  the  two  gifts. 

u  I  do  not  see  that  Horse  will  be  of  much  use 
to  us,"  said  the  old  man  who  had  spoken  before. 
"  For,  as  to  the  chariots  and  wagons  and  plows, 
we  have  none  of  them,  and  indeed  do  not  know 
what  they  are ;  and  who  among  us  will  ever  want 
to  sit  on  this  creature's  back  and  be  borne  faster 
than  the  wind  ?  But  Olive  will  be  a  thing  of  beauty 
and  a  joy  for  us  and  our  children  forever." 

OLD   GREEK    STORIES — IO 


146 

"  Which  shall  we  choose  ? "  asked  the  king,  turn 
ing  to  the  people. 

"  Athena  has  given  us  the  best  gift,"  they  all 
cried,  "  and  we  choose  Athena  and  wisdom ! " 

"  Be  it  so,"  said  the  king,  "  and  the  name  of  our 
city  shall  be  Athens." 

From  that  day  the  town  grew  and  spread,  and 
soon  there  was  not  room  on  the  hilltop  for  all 
the  people.  Then  houses  were  built  in  the  plain 
around  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  a  great  road  was 
built  to  the  sea,  three  miles  away ;  and  in  all  the 
world  there  was  no  city  more  fair  than  Athens. 

In  the  old  market  place  on  the  top  of  the  hill 
the  people  built  a  temple  to  Athena,  the  ruins  of 
which  may  still  be  seen.  The  olive  tree  grew  and 
flourished ;  and,  when  you  visit  Athens,  people 
will  show  you  the  very  spot  where  it  stood.  Many 
other  trees  sprang  from  it,  and  in  time  became 
a  blessing  both  to  Greece  and  to  all  the  other 
countries  round  the  great  sea.  As  for  the  horse, 
he  wandered  away  across  the  plains  towards  the 
north  and  found  a  home  at  last  in  distant  Thes- 
saly  beyond  the  River  Peneus.  And  I  have  heard  it 
said  that  all  the  horses  in  the  world  have  descended 
from  that  one  which  Neptune  brought  out  of  the 
rock;  but  of  the  truth  of  this  story  there  rftay  be 
some  doubts. 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THESEUS. 

I.    ^EGEUS    AND    ^ETHRA. 

THERE  was  once  a  king  of  Athens  whose  name 
was  ^Egeus.  He  had  no  son ;  but  he  had  fifty 
nephews,  and  they  were  waiting  for  him  to  die,  so 
that  one  of  them  might  be  king  in  his  stead.  They 
were  wild,  worthless  fellows,  and  the  people  of 
Athens  looked  forward  with  dread  to  the  day  when 
the  city  should  be  in  their  power.  Yet  so  long  as 
^Egeus  lived  they  could  not  do  much  harm,  but 
were  content  to  spend  their  time  in  eating  and 
drinking  at  the  king's  table  and  in  quarreling  among 
themselves. 

It  so  happened  one  summer  that  ^Egeus  left  his 
kingdom  in  the  care  of  the  elders  of  the  city  and 
went  on  a  voyage  across  the  Saronic  Sea  to  the 
old  and  famous  city  of  Trcezen,  which  lay  nestled 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  on  the  opposite  shore. 
Troezen  was  not  fifty  miles  by  water  from  Athens, 
and  the  purple-peaked  island  of  ^Egina  lay  between 

147 


148 

them ;  but  to  the  people  of  that  early  time  the  dis- 
tance seemed  very  great,  and  it  was  not  often  that 
ships  passed  from  one  place  to  the  other.  And  as 
for  going  by  land  round  the  great  bend  of  the  sea, 
that  was  a  thing  so  fraught  with  danger  that  no 
man  had  ever  dared  try  it. 

King  Pittheus  of  Troezen  was  right  glad  to  see 
^Egeus,  for  they  had  been  boys  together,  and  he 
welcomed  him  to  his  city  and  did  all  that  he  could 
to  make  his  visit  a  pleasant  one.  So,  day  after  day, 
there  was  feasting  and  merriment  and  music  in  the 
marble  halls  of  old  Troezen,  and  the  two  kings 
spent  many  a  happy  hour  in  talking  of  the  deeds  of 
their  youth  and  of  the  mighty  heroes  whom  both 
had  known.  And  when  the  time  came  for  the  ship 
to  sail  back  to  Athens,  ^Egeus  was  not  ready  to  go. 
He  said  he  would  stay  yet  a  little  longer  in  Troe- 
zen, for  that  the  elders  of  the  city  would  manage 
things  well  at  home ;  and  so  the  ship  returned  with- 
out him. 

But  ./Egeus  tarried,  not  so  much  for  the  rest  and 
enjoyment  which  he  was  having  in  the  home  of  his 
old  friend,  as  for  the  sake  of  y£thra,  his  old  friend's 
daughter.  For  ^Ethra  was  as  fair  as  a  summer 
morning,  and  she  was  the  joy  and  pride  of  Troe- 
zen; and  ^Egeus  was  never  so  happy  as  when  in 
her  presence.  So  it  happened  that  some  time  after 


149 

the  ship  had  sailed,  there  was  a  wedding  in  the  halls 
of  King  Pittheus;  but  it  was  kept  a  secret,  for 
^Egeus  feared  that  his  nephews,  if  they  heard  of 
it,  would  be  very  angry  and  would  send  men  to 
Troezen  to  do  him  harm. 

Month  after  month  passed  by,  and  still  yEgeus 
lingered  with  his  bride  and  trusted  his  elders  to  see 
to  the  affairs  of  Athens.  Then  one  morning,  when 
the  gardens  of  Troezen  were  full  of  roses  and  the 
heather  was  green  on  the  hills,  a  babe  was  born  to 
/Ethra —  a  boy  with  a  fair  face  and  strong  arms  and 
eyes  as  sharp  and  as  bright  as  the  mountain  eagle's. 
And  now  ^geus  was  more  loth  to  return  home 
than  he  had  been  before,  and  he  went  up  on  the 
mountain  which  overlooks  Trcezen,  and  prayed  to 
Athena,  the  queen  of  the  air,  to  give  him  wisdom 
and  show  him  what  to  do.  Even  while  he  prayed 
there  came  a  ship  into  the  harbor,  bringing  a  letter 
to  ^Egeus  and  alarming  news  from  Athens. 

"  Come  home  without  delay  "  —  these  were  words 
of  the  letter  which  the  elders  had  sent  —  "come 
home  quickly,  or  Athens  will  be  lost.  A  great  king 
from  beyond  the  sea,  Minos  of  Crete,  is  on  the  way 
with  ships  and  a  host  of  fighting  men ;  and  he 
declares  that  he  will  carry  sword  and  fire  within  our 
walls,  and  will  slay  our  young  men  and  make  our 
children  his  slaves.  Come  and  save  us ! " 


ISO 

"  It  is  the  call  of  duty/5  said  ^Egeus ;  and  with 
a  heavy  heart  he  made  ready  to  go  at  once 
across  the  sea  to  the  help  of  his  people.  But  he 
could  not  take  ^Ethra  and  her  babe,  for  fear  of 
his  lawless  nephews,  who  would  have  slain  them 
both. 

"  Best  of  wives,"  he  said,  when  the  hour  for  part- 
ing had  come,  "  listen  to  me,  for  I  shall  never  see 
your  father's  halls,  nor  dear  old  Troezen,  nor  per- 
haps your  own  fair  face,  again.  Do  you  remember 
the  old  plane  tree  which  stands  on  the  mountain 
side,  and  the  great  flat  stone  which  lies  a  little  way 
beyond  it,  and  which  no  man  but  myself  has  ever 
been  able  to  lift?  Under  that  stone,  I  have  hidden 
my  sword  and  the  sandals  which  I  brought  from 
Athens.  There  they  shall  lie  until  our  child  is 
strong  enough  to  lift  the  stone  and  take  them  for 
his  own.  Care  for  him,  ^Ethra,  until  that  time ; 
and  then,  and  not  till  then,  you  may  tell  him  of 
his  father,  and  bid  him  seek  me  in  Athens." 

Then  ^Egeus  kissed  his  wife  and  the  babe,  and 
went  on  board  the  ship;  the  sailors  shouted;  the 
oars  were  dipped  into  the  waves ;  the  white  sail 
was  spread  to  the  breeze;  and  ^Ethra  from  her 
palace  window  saw  the  vessel  speed  away  over  the 
blue  waters  towards  ^gina  and  the  distant  Attic 
shore. 


II.     SWORD    AND    SANDALS. 

Year  after  year  went' by,  and  yet  no  word  reached 
/Ethra  from  her  husband  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea. 
Often  and  often  she  would  climb  the  mountain  above 
Troezen,  and  sit  there  all  day,  looking  out  over  the 
blue  waters  and  the  purple  hills  of  ^Egina  to  the  dim, 
distant  shore  beyond.  Now  and  then  she  could  see 
a  white-winged  ship  sailing  in  the  offing ;  but  men 
said  that  it  was  a  Cretan  vessel,  and  very  likely  was 
filled  with  fierce  Cretan  warriors,  bound  upon  some 
cruel  errand  of  war.  Then  it  was  rumored  that 
King  Minos  had  seized  upon  all  the  ships  of  Athens, 
and  had  burned  a  part  of  the  city,  and  had  forced 
the  people  to  pay  him  -a  most  grievous  tribute.  But 
further  than  this  there  was  no  news. 

In  the  meanwhile  ^Ethra's  babe  had  grown  to  be 
a  tall,  ruddy-cheeked  lad,  strong  as  a  mountain  lion ; 
and  she  had  named  him  Theseus.  On  the  day  that 
he  was  fifteen  years  old  he  went  with  her  up  to  the 
top  of  the  mountain,  and  with  her  looked  out  over 
the  sea. 

"Ah,  if  only  your  father  would  come!"  she  sighed. 

"  My  father  ?  "  said  Theseus.  "  Who  is  my  father, 
and  why  are  you  always  watching  and  waiting  and 
wishing  that  he  would  come  ?  Tell  me  about  him." 

And  she  answered :  "  My  child,  do  you  see  the 


152 

great  flat  stone  which  lies  there,  half  buried  in  the 
ground,  and  covered  with  moss  and  trailing  ivy? 
Do  you  think  you  can  lift  it  ? " 

"  I  will  try,  mother,"  said  Theseus.  And  he  dug 
his  fingers  into  the  ground  beside  it,  and  grasped  its 
uneven  edges,  and  tugged  and  lifted  and  strained 
until  his  breath  came  hard  and  his  arms  ached  and 
his  body  was  covered  with  sweat ;  but  the  stone  was 
moved  not  at  all.  At  last  he  said,  "  The  task  is  too 
hard  for  me  until  I  have  grown  stronger.  But  why 
do  you  wish  me  to  lift  it  ? " 

"  When  you  are  strong  enough  to  lift  it,"  answered 
^Ethra,  "  I  will  tell  you  about  your  father." 

After  that  the  boy  went  out  every  day  and  prac- 
ticed at  running  and  leaping  ^nd  throwing  and  lift- 
ing; and  every  day  he  rolled  some  stone  out  of  its 
place.  At  first  he  could  move  only  a  little  weight, 
and  those  who  saw  him  laughed  as  he  pulled  and 
puffed  and  grew  red  in  the  face,  but  never  gave  up 
until  he  had  lifted  it.  And  little  by  little  he  grew 
stronger,  and  his  muscles  became  like  iron  bands, 
and  his  limbs  were  like  mighty  levers  for  strength. 
Then  on  his  next  birthday  he  went  up  on  the  moun- 
tain with  his  mother,  and  again  tried  to  lift  the  great 
stone.  But  it  remained  fast  in  its  place  and  was  not 
moved. 

"  I  am  not  yet  strong  enough,  mother,"  he  said. 


153 

"  Have  patience,  my  son,"  said 

So  he  went  on  again  with  his  running  and  leaping 
and  throwing  and  lifting;  and  he  practiced  wrest- 
ling, also,  and  tamed  the  wild  horses  of  the  plain, 
and  hunted  the  lions  among  the  mountains ;  and 
his  strength  and  swiftness  and  skill  were  the 
wonder  of  all  men,  and  old  Troezen  was  filled 
with  tales  of  the  deeds  of  the  boy  Theseus.  Yet 
when  he  tried  again  on  his  seventeenth  birthday, 
he  could  not  move  the  great  flat  stone  that  lay 
near  the  plane  tree  on  the  mountain  side. 

"  Have  patience,  my  son,"  again  said  ^Ethra ; 
but  this  time  the  tears  were  standing  in  her 
eyes. 

So  he  went  back  again  to  his  exercising ;  and  he 
learned  to  wield  the  sword  and  the  battle  ax  and  to 
throw  tremendous  weights  and  to  carry  tremendous 
burdens.  And  men  said  that  since  the  days  of  Her- 
cules there  was  never  so  great  strength  in  one  body. 
Then,  when  he  was  a  year  older,  he  climbed  the 
mountain  yet  another  time  with  his  mother,  and  he 
stooped  and  took  hold  of  the  stone,  and  it  yielded 
to  his  touch ;  and,  lo,  when  he  had  lifted  it  quite  out 
of  the  ground,  he  found  underneath  it  a  sword  of 
bronze  and  sandals  of  gold,  and  these  he  gave  to 
his  mother. 

"  Tell  me  now  about  my  father,"  he  said. 


*  SHE  BUCKLED  THE   SWORD  TO   HIS   BELT." 


155 

yEthra  knew  that  the  time  had  come  for  which 
she  had  waited  so  long,  and  she  buckled  the  sword 
to  his  belt  and  fastened  the  sandals  upon  his  feet. 
Then  she  told  him  who  his  father  was,  and  why  he 
had  left  them  in  Trcezen,  and  how  he  had  said 
that  when  the  lad  was  strong  enough  to  lift  the 
great  stone,  he  must  take  the  sword  and  sandals 
and  go  and  seek  him  in  Athens. 

Theseus  was  glad  when  he  heard  this,  and  his 
proud  eyes  flashed  with  eagerness  as  he  said :  "  I 
am  ready,  mother;  and  I  will  set  out  for  Athens 
this  very  day." 

Then  they  walked  down  the  mountain  together 
and  told  King  Pittheus  what  had  happened,  and 
showed  him  the  sword  and  the  sandals.  But  the 
old  man  shook  his  head  sadly  and  tried  to  dissuade 
Theseus  from  going. 

"  How  can  you  go  to  Athens  in  these  lawless 
times  ? "  he  said.  "  The  sea  is  full  of  pirates.  In 
fact,  no  ship  from  Trcezen  has  sailed  across  the 
Saronic  Sea  since  your  kingly  father  went  home  to 
the  help  of  his  people,  eighteen  years  ago." 

Then,  finding  that  this  only  made  Theseus  the 
more  determined,  he  said :  "  But  if  you  must  go,  I 
will  have  a  new  ship  built  for  you,  stanch  and  stout 
and  fast  sailing ;  and  fifty  of  the  bravest  young  men 
in  Troezen  shall  go  with  you;  and  mayhap  with 


1 56 

fair  winds  and  fearless  hearts  you  shall  escape  the 
pirates  and  reach  Athens  in  safety." 

"  Which  is  the  most  perilous  way  ? "  asked 
Theseus  — "  to  go  by  ship  or  to  make  the  journey 
on  foot  round  the  great  bend  of  land  ?  " 

"  The  seaway  is  full  enough  of  perils/'  said  his 
grandfather,  "  but  the  landway  is  beset  with  dangers 
tenfold  greater.  Even  if  there  were  good  roads  and 
no  hindrances,  the  journey  round  the  shore  is  a 
long  one  and  would  require  many  days.  But  there 
are  rugged  mountains  to  climb,  and  wide  marshes 
to  cross,  and  dark  forests  to  go  through.  There  is 
hardly  a  footpath  in  all  that  wild  region,  nor  any 
place  to  find  rest  or  shelter ;  and  the  woods  are  full 
of  wild  beasts,  and  dreadful  dragons  lurk  in  the 
marshes,  and  many  cruel  robber  giants  dwell  in  the 
mountains." 

"  Well,"  said  Theseus,  "  if  there  are  more  perils 
by  land  than  by  sea,  then  I  shall  go  by  land,  and  I 
go  at  once." 

"  But  you  will  at  least  take  fifty  young  men,  your 
companions,  with  you  ?  "  said  King  Pittheus. 

"  Not  one  shall  go  with  me,"  said  Theseus ;  and 
he  stood  up  and  played  with  his  sword  hilt,  and 
laughed  at  the  thought  of  fear. 

Then  when  there  was  nothing  more  to  say,  he 
kissed  his  mother  and  bade  his  grandfather  good-by, 


157 

and  went  out  of  Troezen  towards  the  trackless  coast- 
land  which  lay  to  the  west  and  north.  And  with 
blessings  and  tears  the  king  and  ^Ethra  followed 
him  to  the  city  gates,  and  watched  him  until 
his  tall  form  was  lost  to  sight  among  the  trees 
which  bordered  the  shore  of  the  sea. 


III.     ROUGH    ROADS    AND    ROBBERS. 

With  a  brave  heart  Theseus  walked  on,  keeping 
the  sea  always  upon  his  right.  Soon  the  old  city  of 
Troezen  was  left  far  behind,  and  he  came  to  the 
great  marshes,  where  the  ground  sank  under  him  at 
every  step,  and  green  pools  of  stagnant  water  lay  on 
both  sides  of  the  narrow  pathway.  But  no  fiery 
dragon  came  out  of  the  reeds  to  meet  him ;  and  so 
he  walked  on  and  on  till  he  came  to  the  rugged 
mountain  land  which  bordered  the  western  shore  of 
the  sea.  Then  he  climbed  one  slope  after  another, 
until  at  last  he  stood  on  the  summit  of  a  gray  peak 
from  which  he  could  see  the  whole  country  spread 
out  around  him.  Then  downward  and  onward  he 
went  again,  but  his  way  led  him  through  dark  moun- 
tain glens,  and  along  the  edges  of  mighty  precipices, 
and  underneath  many  a  frowning  cliff,  until  he  came 
to  a  dreary  wood  where  the  trees  grew  tall  and  close 
together  and  the  light  of  the  sun  was  seldom  seen. 


IS8 

In  that  forest  there  dwelt  a  robber  giant,  called 
Club-carrier,  who  was  the  terror  of  all  the  country. 
For  oftentimes  he  would  go  down  into  the  valleys 
where  the  shepherds  fed  their  flocks,  and  would 
carry  off  not  only  sheep  and  lambs,  but  sometimes 
children  and  the  men  themselves.  It  was  his  cus- 
tom to  hide  in  the  thickets  of  underbrush,  close  to 
a  pathway,  and,  when  a  traveler  passed  that  way, 
leap  out  upon  him  and  beat  him  to  death.  When 
he  saw  Theseus  coming  through  the  woods,  he 
thought  that  he  would  have  a  rich  prize,  for  he  knew 
from  the  youth's  dress  and  manner  that  he  must 
be  a  prince.  He  lay  on  the  ground,  where  leaves 
of  ivy  and  tall  grass  screened  him  from  view,  and 
held  his  great  iron  club  ready  to  strike. 

But  Theseus  had  sharp  eyes  and  quick  ears,  and 
neither  beast  nor  robber  giant  could  have  taken  him 
by  surprise.  When  Club-carrier  leaped  out  of  his 
hiding  place  to  strike  him  down,  the  young  man 
dodged  aside  so  quickly  that  the  heavy  club  struck 
the  ground  behind  him ;  and  then,  before  the  robber 
giant  could  raise  it  for  a  second  stroke,  Theseus 
seized  the  fellow's  legs  and  tripped  him  up. 

Club-carrier  roared  loudly,  and  tried  to  strike 
again;  but  Theseus  wrenched  the  club  out  of  his 
hands,  and  then  dealt  him  such  a  blow  on  the  head 
that  he  never  again  harmed  travelers  passing  through 


159 

the  forest.  Then  the  youth  went  on  his  way,  carry- 
ing the  huge  club  on  his  shoulder,  and  singing  a  song 
of  victory,  and  looking  sharply  around  him  for  any 
other  foes  that  might  be  lurking  among  the  trees. 

Just  over  the  ridge  of  the  next  mountain  he  met 
an  old  man  who  warned  him  not  to  go  any  farther. 
He  said  that  close  by  a  grove  of  pine  trees,  which 
he  would  soon  pass  on  his  way  down  the  slope,  there 
dwelt  a  robber  named  Sinis,  who  was  very  cruel  to 
strangers. 

"  He  is  called  Pine-bender,"  said  the  old  man ; 
"  for  when  he  has  caught  a  traveler,  he  bends  two 
tall,  lithe  pine  trees  to  the  ground  and  binds  his  cap- 
tive to  them  —  a  hand  and  a  foot  to  the  top  of  one, 
and  a  hand  and  a  foot  to  the  top  of  the  other. 
Then  he  lets  the  trees  fly  up,  and  he  roars  with 
laughter  when  he  sees  the  traveler's  body  torn  in 
sunder." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Theseus,  "  that  it  is  full 
time  to  rid  the  world  of  such  a  monster ; "  and  he 
thanked  the  kind  man  who  had  warned  him,  and 
hastened  onward,  whistling  merrily  as  he  went 
down  towards  the  grove  of  pines. 

Soon  he  came  in  sight  of  the  robber's  house, 
built  near  the  foot  of  a  jutting  cliff.  Behind  it  was 
a  rocky  gorge  and  a  roaring  mountain  stream ;  and 
in  front  of  it  was  a  garden  wherein  grew  all  kinds  of 


i6o 

% 

fare  plants  and  beautiful  flowers.  But  the  tops  of 
the  pine  trees  below  it  were  laden  with  the  bones  of 
unlucky  travelers,  which  hung  bleaching  white  in 
the  sun  and  wind. 

On  a  stone  by  the  roadside  sat  Sinis  himself ; 
and  when  he  saw  Theseus  coming,  he  ran  to  meet 
him,  twirling  a  long  rope  in  his  hands  and  crying 
out : 

"  Welcome,  welcome,  dear  prince  !  Welcome  to 
our  inn  —  the  true  Traveler's  Rest !  " 

"  What  kind  of  entertainment  have  you  ?  "  asked 
Theseus.  "  Have  you  a  pine  tree  bent  down  to  the 
ground  and  ready  for  me  ?  " 

"  Ay  ;  two  of  them  !  "  said  the  robber.  "  I  knew 
that  you  were  coming,  and  I  bent  two  of  them  for 
you." 

As  he  spoke  he  threw  his  rope  towards  Theseus 
and  tried  to  entangle  him  in  its  coils.  But  the 
young  man  leaped  aside,  and  when  the  robber 
rushed  upon  him,  he  dodged  beneath  his  hands  and 
seized  his  legs,  as  he  had  seized  Club-carrier's,  and 
threw  him  heavily  to  the  ground.  Then  the  two 
wrestled  together  among  the  trees,  but  not  long, 
for  Sinis  was  no  match  for  his  lithe  young  foe ;  and 
Theseus  knelt  upon  the  robber's  back  as  he  lay 
prone  among  the  leaves,  and  tied  him  with  his  own 
cord  to  the  two  pine  trees  which  were  already  bent 


down.  "As  you  would  have  done  unto  me,  so  will 
I  do  unto  you/'  he  said. 

Then  Pine-bender  wept  and  prayed  and  made 
many  a  fair  promise ;  but  Theseus  would  not  hear 
him.  He  turned  away,  the  trees  sprang  up,  and  the 
robber's  body  was  left  dangling  from  their  branches. 

Now  this  old  Pine-bender  had  a  daughter  named 
Perigune,  who  was  no  more  like  him  than  a  fair  and 
tender  violet  is  like  the  gnarled  old  oak  at  whose 
feet  it  nestles;  and  it  was  she  who  cared  for  the 
flowers  and  the  rare  plants  which  grew  in  the 
garden  by  the  robber's  house.  When  she  saw  how 
Theseus  had  dealt  with  her  father,  she  was  afraid 
and  ran  to  hide  herself  from  him. 

"  Oh,  save  me,  dear  plants ! "  she  cried,  for  she 
often  talked  to  the  flowers  as  though  they  could 
understand  her.  "  Dear  plants,  save  me ;  and  I  will 
never  pluck  your  leaves  nor  harm  you  in  any  way 
so  long  as  I  live." 

There  was  one  of  the  plants  which  up  to  that 
time  had  had  no  leaves,  but  came  up  out  of  the 
ground  looking  like  a  mere  club  or  stick.  This 
plant  took  pity  on  the  maiden.  It  began  at  once  to 
send  out  long  feathery  branches  with  delicate  green 
leaves,  which  grew  so  fast  that  Perigune  was  soon 
hidden  from  sight  beneath  them.  Theseus  knew 
that  she  must  be  somewhere  in  the  garden,  but  he 


OLD    GREEK   STORIES  —  1 1 


1 62 

could  not  find  her,  so  well  did  the  feathery  branches 
conceal  her.  So  he  called  to  her : 

"  Perigune,"  he  said,  "  you  need  not  fear  me ;  for 
I  know  that  you  are  gentle  and  good,  and  it  is  only 
against  things  dark  and  cruel  that  I  lift  up  my 
hand." 

The  maiden  peeped  from  her  hiding-place,  and 
when  she  saw  the  fair  face  of  the  youth  and  heard 
his  kind  voice,  she  came  out,  trembling,  and  talked 
with  him.  And  Theseus  rested  that  evening  in  her 
house,  and  she  picked  some  of  her  choicest  flowers 
for  him  and  gave  him  food.  But  when  in  the  morn- 
ing the  dawn  began  to  appear  in  the  east,  and  the 
stars  grew  dim  above  the  mountain  peaks,  he  bade 
her  farewell  and  journeyed  onward  over  the  hills. 
And  Perigune  tended  her  plants  and  watched  her 
flowers  in  the  lone  garden  in  the  midst  of  the  piny 
grove ;  but  she  never  plucked  the  stalks  of  aspara- 
gus nor  used  them  for  food,  and  when  she  afterwards 
became  the  wife  of  a  hero  and  had  children  and 
grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren,  she  taught 
them  all  to  spare  the  plant  which  had  taken  pity 
upon  her  in  her  need. 

The  road  which  Theseus  followed  now  led 
him  closer  to  the  shore,  and  by  and  by  he  came 
to  a  place  where  the  mountains  seemed  to  rise 
sheer  out  of  the  sea,  and  there  was  only  a  narrow 


163 

path  high  up  along  the  side  of  the  cliff.  r*ar  down 
beneath  his  feet  he  could  hear  the  waves  dashing 
evermore  against  the  rocky  wall,  while  above  him 
the  mountain  eagles  circled  and  screamed,  and  gray 
crags  and  barren  peaks  glistened  in  the  sunlight. 

But  Theseus  went  on  fearlessly  and  came  at  last 
to  a  place  where  a  spring  of  clear  water  bubbled 
out  from  a  cleft  in  the  rock;  and  there  the  path 
was  narrower  still,  and  the  low  doorway  of  a  cavern 
opened  out  upon  it.  Close  by  the  spring  sat  a 
red-faced  giant,  with  a  huge  club  across  his  knees, 
guarding  the  road  so  that  no  one  could  pass ;  and  in 
the  sea  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  basked  a  huge  turtle, 
its  leaden  eyes  looking  always  upward  for  its  food. 
Theseus  knew  —  for  Perigune  had  told  him  —  that 
this  was  the  dwelling-place  of  a  robber  named  Sci- 
ron,  who  was  the  terror  of  all  the  coast,  and  whose 
custom  it  was  to  make  strangers  wash  his  feet,  so 
that  while  they  were  doing  so,  he  might  kick  them 
over  the  cliff  to  be  eaten  by  his  pet  turtle  below. 

When  Theseus  came  up,  the  robber  raised  his 
club,  and  said  fiercely :  "  No  man  can  pass  here  until 
he  has  washed  my  feet  i  Come,  set  to  work !  " 

Then  Theseus  smiled,  and  said :  "  Is  your  turtle 
hungry  to-day  ?  and  do  you  want  me  to  feed  him  ?  " 
The  robber's  eyes  flashed  fire,  and  he  said,  "  You 
shall  feed  him,  but  you  shall  wash  my  feet  first : " 


164 

and  with  that  he  brandished  his  club  in  the  air  and 
rushed  forward  to  strike. 

But  Theseus  was  ready  for  him.  With  the  iron 
club  which  he  had  taken  from  Club-carrier  in  the 
forest  he  met  the  blow  midway,  and  the  robber's 
weapon  was  knocked  out  of  his  hands  and  sent  spin- 
ning away  over  the  edge  of  the  cliff.  Then  Sciron, 
black  with  rage,  tried  to  grapple  with  him;  but 
Theseus  was  too  quick  for  that.  He  dropped  his 
club  and  seized  Sciron  by  the  throat;  he  pushed 
him  back  against  the  ledge  on  which  he  had  been 
sitting;  he  threw  him  sprawling  upon  the  sharp 
rocks,  and  held  him  there,  hanging  half  way  over 
the  cliff. 

"  Enough  !  enough  !  "  cried  the  robber.  "  Let  me 
up,  and  you  may  pass  on  your  way." 

"  It  is  not  enough,"  said  Theseus ;  and  he  drew 
his  sword  and  sat  down  by  the  side  of  the  spring. 
"  You  must  wash  my  feet  now.  Come,  set  to 
work!" 

Then   Sciron,  white  with   fear,  washed   his  feet. 

"And  now,"  said  Theseus,  when  the  task  was 
ended,  "  as  you  have  done  unto  others,  so  will  I 
do  unto  you." 

There  was  a  scream  in  mid  air  which  the  moun- 
tain eagles  answered  from  above ;  there  was  a  great 
splashing  in  the  water  below,  and  the  turtle  fled  in 


165 

terror  from  its  lurking  place.  Then  the  sea  cried 
out :  "  I  will  have  naught  to  do  with  so  vile  a 
wretch !  "  and  a  great  wave  cast  the  body  of  Sciron 
out  upon  the  shore.  But  it  had  no  sooner  touched 
the  ground  than  the  land  cried  out:  "  I  will  have 
naught  to  do  with  so  vile  a  wretch !  "  and  there  was 
a  sudden  earthquake,  and  the  body  of  Sciron  was 
thrown  back  into  the  sea.  Then  the  sea  waxed  fu- 
rious, a  raging  storm  arose,  the  waters  were  lashed 
into  foam,  and  the  waves  with  one  mighty  effort 
threw  the  detested  body  high  into  the  air;  and 
there  it  would  have  hung  unto  this  day  had  not  the 
air  itself  disdained  to  give  it  lodging  and  changed 
it  into  a  huge  black  rock.  And  this  rock,  which 
men  say  is  the  body  of  Sciron,  may  still  be  seen, 
grim,  ugly,  and  desolate;  and  one  third  of  it  lies  in 
the  sea,  one  third  is  embedded  in  the  sandy  shore, 
and  one  third  is  exposed  to  the  air. 

IV.    WRESTLER   AND   WRONG-DOER. 

Keeping  the  sea  always  in  view,  Theseus  went 
onward  a  long  day's  journey  to  the  north  and  east ; 
and  he  left  the  rugged  mountains  behind  and  came 
down  into  the  valleys  and  into  a  pleasant  plain 
where  there  were  sheep  and  cattle  pasturing  and 
where  there  were  many  fields  of  ripening  grain. 


1 66 

The  fame  of  his  deeds  had  gone  before  him,  and 
men  and  women  came  crowding  to  the  roadside  to 
see  the  hero  who  had  slain  Club-carrier  and  Pine- 
bender  and  grim  old  Sciron  of  the  cliff. 

"  Now  we  shall  live  in  peace,"  they  cried ;  "  for 
the  robbers  who  devoured  our  flocks  and  our  chil- 
dren are  no  more." 

Then  Theseus  passed  through  the  old  town  of 
Megara,  and  followed  the  shore  of  the  bay  towards 
the  sacred  city  of  Eleusis.  * 

"  Do  not  go  into  Eleusis,  but  take  the  road 
which  leads  round  it  through  the  hills,"  whispered 
a  poor  man  who  was  carrying  a  sheep  to  market. 

"  Why  shall  I  do  that  ? "  asked  Theseus. 

"  Listen,  and  I  will  tell  you,"  was  the  answer. 
"  There  is  a  king  in  Eleusis  whose  name  is  Cer- 
cyon,  and  he  is  a  great  wrestler.  He  makes  every 
stranger  who  comes  into  the  city  wrestle  with  him ; 
and  such  is  the  strength  of  his  arms  that  when  he 
has  overcome  a  man  he  crushes  the  life  out  of  his 
body.  Many  travelers  come  to  Eleusis,  but  no 
one  ever  goes  away." 

"But  I  will  both  come  and  go  away,"  said 
Theseus ;  and  with  his  club  upon  his  shoulder,  he 
strode  onward  into  the  sacred  city. 

"  Where  is  Cercyon,  the  wrestler  ?  "  he  asked  of 
the  warden  at  the  gate. 


i67 

"  The  king  is  dining  in  his  marble  palace,"  was 
the  answer.  "  If  you  wish  to  save  yourself,  turn 
now  and  flee  before  he  has  heard  of  your 
coming." 

"  Why  should  I  flee  ?  "  asked  Theseus.  "  I  am 
not  afraid ; "  and  he  walked  on  through  the  narrow 
street  to  old  Cercyon's  palace. 

The  king  was  sitting  at  his  table,  eating  and 
drinking ;  and  he  grinned  hideously  as  he  thought 
of  the  many  noble  young  men  whose  lives  he 
had  destroyed.  Theseus  went  up  boldly  to  the 
door,  and  cried  out: 

"  Cercyon,  come  out  and  wrestle  with  me ! " 

"  Ah ! "  said  the  king,  "  here  comes  another 
young  fool  whose  days  are  numbered.  Fetch  him 
in  and  let  him  dine  with  me ;  and  after  that  he 
shall  have  his  fill  of  wrestling." 

So  Theseus  was  given  a  place  at  the  table  of  the 
king,  and  the  two  sat  there  and  ate  and  stared  at 
each  other,  but  spoke  not  a  word.  And  Cercyon, 
as  he  looked  at  the  young  man's  sharp  eyes  and 
his  fair  face  and  silken  hair,  had  half  a  mind  to 
bid  him  go  in  peace  and  seek  not  to  test  his 
strength  and  skill.  But  when  they  had  finished, 
Theseus  arose  and  laid  aside  his  sword  and  his 
sandals  and  his  iron  club,  and  stripped  himself  of 
his  robes,  and  said : 


1 68 

"  Come  now,  Cercyon,  if  you  are  not  afraid ;  come, 
and  wrestle  with  me." 

Then  the  two  went  out  into  the  courtyard  where 
many  a  young  man  had  met  his  fate,  and  there  they 
wrestled  until  the  sun  went  down,  and  neither  could 
gain  aught  of  advantage  over  the  other.  But  it  was 
plain  that  the  trained  skill  of  Theseus  would,  in  the 
end,  win  against  the  brute  strength  of  Cercyon. 
Then  the  men  of  Eleusis  who  stood  watching  the 
contest,  saw  the  youth  lift  the  giant  king  bodily  into 
the  air  and  hurl  him  headlong  over  his  shoulder  to 
the  hard  pavement  beyond. 

"  As  you  have  done  to  others,  so  will  I  do  unto 
you  !  "  cried  Theseus. 

But  grim  old  Cercyon  neither  moved  nor  spoke ; 
and  when  the  youth  turned  his  body  over  and  looked 
into  his  cruel  face,  he  saw  that  the  life  had  quite 
gone  out  of  him. 

Then  the  people  of  Eleusis  came  to  Theseus  and 
wanted  to  make  him  their  king.  "  You  have  slain 
the  tyrant  who  was  the  bane  of  Eleusis,"  they  said, 
"  and  we  have  heard  how  you  have  also  rid  the  world 
of  the  giant  robbers  who  were  the  terror  of  the  land. 
Come  now  and  be  our  king ;  for  we  know  that  you 
will  rule  over  us  wisely  and  well." 

"  Some  day,"  said  Theseus,  "  I  will  be  your  king, 
but  not  now ;  for  there  are  other  deeds  for  me  to 


do."  And  with  that  he  donned  his  sword  and  his 
sandals  and  his  princely  cloak,  and  threw  his  great 
iron  club  upon  his  shoulder,  and  went  out  of  Eleu- 
sis ;  and  all  the  people  ran  after  him  for  quite  a  little 
way,  shouting,  "  May  good  fortune  be  with  you,  O 
king,  and  may  Athena  bless  and  guide  you ! " 

V.     PROCRUSTES    THE    PITILESS. 

Athens  was  now  not  more  than  twenty  miles 
away,  but  the  road  thither  led  through  the  Parnes 
Mountains,  and  was  only  a  narrow  path  winding 
among  the  rocks  and  up  and  down  many  a  lonely 
wooded  glen.  Theseus  had  seen  worse  and  far  more 
dangerous  roads  than  this,  and  so  he  strode  bravely 
onward,  happy  in  the  thought  that  he  was  so  near 
the  end  of  his  long  journey.  But  it  was  very  slow 
traveling  among  the  mountains,  and  he  was  not 
always  sure  that  he  was  following  the  right  path. 
The  sun  was  almost  down  when  he  came  to  a  broad 
green  valley  where  the  trees  had  been  cleared  away. 
A  little  river  flowed  through  the  middle  of  this  val- 
ley, and  on  either  side  were  grassy  meadows  where 
cattle  were  grazing ;  and  on  a  hillside  close  by,  half 
hidden  among  the  trees,  there  was  a  great  stone 
house  with  vines  running  over  its  walls  and  roof. 

While  Theseus  was  wondering  who  it  could  be 


170 

that  lived  in  this  pretty  but  lonely  place,  a  man  came 
out  of  the  house  and  hurried  down  to  the  road  to 
meet  him.  He  was  a  well-dressed  man,  and  his 
face  was  wreathed  with  smiles ;  and  he  bowed  low 
to  Theseus  and  invited  him  kindly  to  come  up  to  the 
house  and  be  his  guest  that  night. 

"  This  is  a  lonely  place,"  he  said,  "  and  it  is  not 
often  that  travelers  pass  this  way.  But  there  is 
nothing  that  gives  me  so  much  joy  as  to  find  stran- 
gers and  feast  them  at  my  table  and  hear  them  tell 
of  the  things  they  have  seen  and  heard.  Come  up, 
and  sup  with  me,  and  lodge  under  my  roof ;  and  you 
shall  sleep  on  a  wonderful  bed  which  I  have  —  a  bed 
which  fits  every  guest  and  cures  him  of  every  ill." 

Theseus  was  pleased  with  the  man's  ways,  and  as 
he  was  both  hungry  and  tired,  he  went  up  with  him 
and  sat  down  under  the  vines  by  the  door ;  and  the 
man  said : 

"  Now  I  will  go  in  and  make  the  bed  ready  for 
you,  and  you  can  lie  down  upon  it  and  rest ;  and 
later,  when  you  feel  refreshed,  you  shall  sit  at  my 
table  and  sup  with  me,  and  I  will  listen  to  the  pleas- 
ant tales  which  I  know  you  will  tell." 

When  he  had  gone  into  the  house,  Theseus  looked 
around  him  to  see  what  sort  of  a  place  it  was.  He 
was  filled  with  surprise  at  the  richness  of  it  —  at 
the  gold  and  silver  and  beautiful  things  with  which 


every  room  seemed  to  be  adorned  —  for  it  was 
indeed  a  place  fit  for  a  prince.  While  he  was 
looking  and  wondering,  the  vines  before  him  were 
parted  and  the  fair  face  of  a  young  girl  peeped  out 

"  Noble  stranger,"  she  whispered,  "  do  not  lie 
down  on  my  master's  bed,  for  those  who  do  so 
never  rise  again.  Fly  down  the  glen  and  hide  your- 
self in  the  deep  woods  ere  he  returns,  or  else  there 
will  be  no  escape  for  you." 

"  Who  is  your  master,  fair  maiden,  that  I  should 
be  afraid  of  him  ?  "  asked  Theseus. 

"  Men  call  him  Procrustes,  or  the  Stretcher,"  said 
the  girl  —  and  she  talked  low  and  fast.  "  He  is  a 
robber.  He  brings  hither  all  the  strangers  that  he 
finds  traveling  through  the  mountains.  He  puts 
them  on  his  iron  bed.  He  robs  them  of  all  they 
have.  No  one  who  comes  into  his  house  ever 
goes  out  again." 

"  Why  do  they  call  him  the  Stretcher  ?  And 
what  is  that  iron  bed  of  his  ? "  asked  Theseus,  in  no 
wise  alarmed. 

"  Did  he  not  tell  you  that  it  fits  all  guests  ? "  said 
the  girl ;  "  and  most  truly  it  does  fit  them.  For 
if  a  traveler  is  too  long,  Procrustes  hews  off  his  legs 
until  he  is  of  the  right  length ;  but  if  he  is  too  short, 
as  is  the  case  with  most  guests,  then  he  stretches 
his  limbs  and  body  with  ropes  until  he  is  long 


172 

enough.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  men  call  him  the 
Stretcher." 

"  Methinks  that  I  have  heard  of  this  Stretcher 
before,"  said  Theseus ;  and  then  he  remembered 
that  some  one  at  Eleusis  had  warned  him  to  beware 
of  the  wily  robber,  Procrustes,  who  lurked  in  the 
glens  of  the  Parnes  peaks  and  lured  travelers  into 
his  den. 

"  Hark!  hark!"  whispered  the  girl.  "  I  hear  him 
coming ! "  And  the  vine  leaves  closed  over  her 
hiding-place." 

The  very  next  moment  Procrustes  stood  in  the 
door,  bowing  and  smiling  as  though  he  had  never 
done  any  harm  to  his  fellow  men. 

"  My  dear  young  friend,"  he  said,  "  the  bed  is 
ready,  and  I  will  show  you  the  way.  After  you 
have  taken  a  pleasant  little  nap,  we  will  sit  down  at 
table,  and  you  may  tell  me  of  the  wonderful  things 
which  you  have  seen  in  the  course  of  your  travels." 

Theseus  arose  and  followed  his  host ;  and  when 
they  had  come  into  an  inner  chamber,  there,  surely 
enough,  was  the  bedstead,  of  iron,  very  curiously 
wrought,  and  upon  it  a  soft  couch  which  seemed  to 
invite  him  to  lie  down  and  rest.  But  Theseus,  peer- 
ing about,  saw  the  ax  and  the  ropes  with  cunning 
pulleys  lying  hidden  behind  the  curtains;  and  he  saw, 
too,  that  the  floor  was  covered  with  stains  of  blood. 


173 

"  Now,  my  dear  young  friend,"  said  Procrustes, 
"  I  pray  you  to  lie  down  and  take  your  ease ;  for  I 
know  that  you  have  traveled  far  and  are  faint  from 
want  of  rest  and  sleep.  Lie  down,  and  while  sweet 
slumber  overtakes  you,  I  will  have  a  care  that  no 
unseemly  noise,  nor  buzzing  fly,  nor  vexing  gnat 
disturbs  your  dreams." 

"  Is  this  your  wonderful  bed  ?  "  asked  Theseus. 

"  It  is,"  answered  Procrustes,  "  and  you  need  but 
to  lie  down  upon  it,  and  it  will  fit  you  perfectly." 

"  But  you  must  lie  upon  it  first,"  said  Theseus, 
"and  let  me  see  how  it  will  fit  itself  to  your 
stature." 

"Ah,  no,"  said  Procrustes,  "for  then  the  spell 
would  be  broken,"  and  as  he  spoke  his  cheeks 
grew  ashy  pale. 

"  But  I  tell  you,  you  must  lie  upon  it,"  said 
Theseus ;  and  he  seized  the  trembling  man  around 
the  waist  and  threw  him  by  force  upon  the  bed. 
And  no  sooner  was  he  prone  upon  the  couch  than 
curious  iron  arms  reached  out  and  clasped  his  body 
in  their  embrace  and  held  him  down  so  that  he 
could  not  move  hand  or  foot.  The  wretched  man 
shrieked  and  cried  for  mercy;  but  Theseus  stood 
over  him  and  looked  him  straight  in  the  eye. 

"  Is  this  the  kind  of  bed  on  which  you  have  your 
guests  lie  down  ?  "  he  asked. 


174 

But  Procrustes  answered  not  a  word.  Then 
Theseus  brought  out  the  ax  and  the  ropes  and  the 
pulleys,  and  asked  him  what  they  were  for,  and  why 
they  were  hidden  in  the  chamber.  He  was  still 
silent,  and  could  do  nothing  now  but  tremble  and 
weep. 

"  Is  it  true,"  said  Theseus,  "  that  you  have  lured 
hundreds  of  travelers  into  your  den  only  to  rob 
them  ?  Is  it  true  that  it  is  your  wont  to  fasten  them 
in  this  bed,  and  then  chop  off  their  legs  or  stretch 
them  out  until  they  fit  the  iron  frame  ?  Tell  me,  is 
this  true  ? " 

"  It  is  true  !  it  is  true  !  "  sobbed  Procrustes ;  "  and 
now  kindly  touch  the  spring  above  my  head  and 
let  me  go,  and  you  shall  have  everything  that  I 
possess." 

But  Theseus  turned  away.  "You  are  caught," 
he  said,  "  in  the  trap  which  you  set  for  others  and 
for  me.  There  is  no  mercy  for  the  man  who  shows 
no  mercy ; "  and  he  went  out  of  the  room,  and  left 
the  wretch  to  perish  by  his  own  cruel  device. 

Theseus  looked  through  the  house  and  found 
there  great  wealth  of  gold  and  silver  and  costly 
things  which  Procrustes  had  taken  from  the  stran- 
gers who  had  fallen  into  his  hands.  He  went  into 
the  dining  hall,  and  there  indeed  was  the  table 
spread  with  a  rich  feast  of  meats  and  drinks  and 


175 

delicacies  such  as  no  king  would  scorn ;  but  there 
was  a  seat  and  a  plate  for  only  the  host,  and  none 
at  all  for  guests. 

Then  the  girl  whose  fair  face  Theseus  had  seen 
among  the  vines,  came  running  into  the  house ; 
and  she  seized  the  young  hero's  hands  and  blessed 
and  thanked  him  because  he  had  rid  the  world  of 
the  cruel  Procrustes. 

"  Only  a  month  ago,"  she  said,  "  my  father,  a  rich 
merchant  of  Athens,  was  traveling  towards  Eleusis, 
and  I  was  with  him,  happy  and  care-free  as  any  bird 
in  the  green  woods.  This  robber  lured  us  into  his 
den,  for  we  had  much  gold  with  us.  My  father, 
he  stretched  upon  his  iron  bed;  but  me,  he  made 
his  slave." 

Then  Theseus  called  together  all  the  inmates  of 
the  house,  poor  wretches  whom  Procrustes  had 
forced  to  serve  him;  and  he  parted  the  robber's 
spoils  among  them  and  told  them  that  they  were 
free  to  go  wheresoever  they  wished.  And  on  the 
next  day  he  went  on,  through  the  narrow  crooked 
ways  among  the  mountains  and  hills,  and  came  at 
last  to  the  plain  of  Athens,  and  saw  the  noble  city 
and,  in  its  midst,  the  rocky  height  where  the  great 
Temple  of  Athena  stood ;  and,  a  little  way  from 
the  temple,  he  saw  the  white  walls  of  the  palace 
of  the  king. 


i76 


VI.     HONOR   AND    HOME. 

When  Theseus  entered  the  city  and  went  walk* 
ing  up  the  street  everybody  wondered  who  the  tall, 
fair  youth  could  be.  But  the  fame  of  his  deeds  had 
gone  before  him,  and  soon  it  was  whispered  that 
this  was  the  hero  who  had  slain  the  robbers  in 
the  mountains  and  had  wrestled  with  Cercyon  at 
Eleusis  and  had  caught  Procrustes  in  his  own 
cunning  trap. 

"  Tell  us  no  such  thing !  "  said  some  butchers  who 
were  driving  their  loaded  carts  to  market.  "  The 
lad  is  better  suited  to  sing  sweet  songs  to  the  ladies 
than  to  fight  robbers  and  wrestle  with  giants." 

"  See  his  silken  black  hair !  "  said  one. 

"  And  his  girlish  lace  !  "  said  another. 

"  And  his  long  coat  dangling  about  his  legs ! " 
said  a  third. 

"  And  his  golden  sandals  !  "  said  a  fourth. 

"  Ha !  ha !  "  laughed  the  first ;  "  I  wager  that  he 
never  lifted  a  ten-pound  weight  in  his  life.  Think 
of  such  a  fellow  as  he  hurling  old  Sciron  from  the 
cliffs  !  Nonsense  !  " 

Theseus  heard  all  this  talk  as  he  strode  along, 
and  it  angered  him  not  a  little ;  but  he  had  not 
come  to  Athens  to  quarrel  with  butchers.  Without 
speaking  a  word  he  walked  straight  up  to  the  fore- 


177 

most  cart,  and,  before  its  driver  had  time  to  think, 
took  hold  of  the  slaughtered  ox  that  was  being 
hauled  to  market,  and  hurled  it  high  over  the  tops 
of  the  houses  into  the  garden  beyond.  Then  he 
did  likewise  with  the  oxen  in  the  second,  the  third, 
and  the  fourth  wagons,  and,  turning  about,  went 
on  his  way,  and  left  the  wonder-stricken  butchers 
staring  after  him,  speechless,  in  the  street. 

He  climbed  the  stairway  which  led  to  the  top  of 
the  steep,  rocky  hill,  and  his  heart  beat  fast  in  his 
bosom  as  he  stood  on  the  threshold  of  his  father's 
palace. 

"  Where  is  the  king  ? "  he  asked  of  the  guard. 

"  You  cannot  see  the  king,"  was  the  answer ; 
"but  I  will  take  you  to  his  nephews." 

The  man  led  the  way  into  the  feast  hall,  and 
there  Theseus  saw  his  fifty  cousins  sitting  about 
the  table,  and  eating  and  drinking  and  making 
merry;  and  there  was  a  great  noise  of  revelry  in 
the  hall,  the  minstrels  singing  and  playing,  and  the 
slave  girls  dancing,  and  the  half-drunken  princes 
shouting  and  cursing.  As  Theseus  stood  in  the 
doorway,  knitting  his  eyebrows  and  clinching  his 
teeth  for  the  anger  which  he  felt,  one  of  the 
feasters  saw  him,  and  cried  out: 

"  See  the  tall  fellow  in  the  doorway !  What  does 
he  want  here  ?  " 


OLD   GREEK   STORIES — 12 


'GREAT  KING,'  HE  SAID,  'I  AM  A  STRANGER  IN  ATHENS.' 


1/9 

"  Yes,  girl-faced  stranger,"  said  another,  "  what  do 
you  want  here  ?  " 

"  I  am  here,"  said  Theseus,  "  to  ask  that  hospi- 
tality which  men  of  our  race  never  refuse  to  give." 

"  Nor  do  we  refuse,"  cried  they.  "  Come  in,  and 
eat  and  drink  and  be  our  guest." 

"  I  will  come  in,"  said  Theseus,  "  but  I  will  be  the 
guest  of  the  king.  Where  is  he  ?  " 

"  Never  mind  the  king,"  said  one  of  his  cousins. 
"  He  is  taking  his  ease,  and  we  reign  in  his  stead." 

But  Theseus  strode  boldly  through  the  feast  hall 
and  went  about  the  palace  asking  for  the  king.  At 
last  he  found  yEgeus,  lonely  and  sorrowful,  sitting 
in  an  inner  chamber.  The  heart  of  Theseus  was 
very  sad  as  he  saw  the  lines  of  care  upon  the  old 
man's  face,  and  marked  his  trembling,  halting  ways. 

"  Great  king,"  he  said,  "  I  am  a  stranger  in 
Athens,  and  I  have  come  to  you  to  ask  food  and 
shelter  and  friendship  such  as  I  know  you  never 
deny  to  those  of  noble  rank  and  of  your  own  race." 

"  And  who  are  you,  young  man  ? "  said  the  king. 

"  I  am  Theseus,"  was  the  answer. 

"  What  ?  the  Theseus  who  has  rid  the  world  of 
the  mountain  robbers,  and  of  Cercyon  the  wrestler, 
and  of  Procrustes,  the  pitiless  Stretcher  ? " 

"  I  am  he,"  said  Theseus ;  "  and  I  come  from  old 
Trcezen,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Saronic  Sea." 


i8o 

The  king  started  and  turned  very  pale. 

"  Troezen  !  Trcezen  !  "  he  cried.  Then  checking 
himself,  he  said,  "  Yes !  yes !  You  are  welcome, 
brave  stranger,  to  such  shelter  and  food  and  friend- 
ship as  the  King  of  Athens  can  give." 

Now  it  so  happened  that  there  was  with  the  king 
a  fair  but  wicked  witch  named  Medea,  who  had  so 
much  power  over  him  that  he  never  dared  to  do 
anything  without  asking  her  leave.  So  he  turned 
to  her,  and  said :  "  Am  I  not  right,  Medea,  in  bid- 
ding this  young  hero  welcome  ?  " 

"  You  are  right,  King  y£geus,"  she  said ;  "  and 
let  him  be  shown  at  once  to  your  guest  chamber, 
that  he  may  rest  himself  and  afterwards  dine  with 
us  at  your  own  table." 

Medea  had  learned  by  her  magic  arts  who  The- 
seus was,  and  she  was  not  at  all  pleased  to  have  him 
in  Athens ;  for  she  feared  that  when  he  should  make 
himself  known  to  the  king,  her  own  power  would  be 
at  an  end.  So,  while  Theseus  was  resting  himself 
in  the  guest  chamber,  she  told  ^Egeus  that  the 
young  stranger  was  no  hero  at  all,  but  a  man  whom 
his  nephews  had  hired  to  kill  him,  for  they  had 
grown  tired  of  waiting  for  him  to  die.  The  poor 
old  king  was  filled  with  fear,  for  he  believed  her 
words ;  and  he  asked  her  what  he  should  do  to  save 
his  life. 


"  Let  me  manage  it,"  she  said.  "  The  young  man 
will  soon  come  down  to  dine  with  us.  I  will  drop 
poison  into  a  glass  of  wine,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
meal  I  will  give  it  to  him.  Nothing  can  be  easier." 

So,  when  the  hour  came,  Theseus  sat  down  to 
dine  with  the  king  and  Medea ;  and  while  he  ate  he 
told  of  his  deeds  and  of  how  he  had  overcome  the 
robber  giants,  and  Cercyon  the  wrestler,  and  Pro- 
crustes the  pitiless;  and  as  the  king  listened,  his 
heart  yearned  strangely  towards  the  young  man,  and 
he  longed  to  save  him  from  Medea's  poisoned  cup. 
Then  Theseus  paused  in  his  talk  to  help  himself  to 
a  piece  of  the  roasted  meat,  and,  as  was  the  custom 
of  the  time,  drew  his  sword  to  carve  it  —  for  you 
must  remember  that  all  these  things  happened  long 
ago,  before  people  had  learned  to  use  knives  and 
forks  at  the  table.  As  the  sword  flashed  from 
its  scabbard,  ^Egeus  saw  the  letters  that  were 
engraved  upon  it  —  the  initials  of  his  own  name. 
He  knew  at  once  that  it  was  the  sword  which  he 
had  hidden  so  many  years  before  under  the  stone 
on  the  mountain  side  above  Troezen. 

"  My  son  !  my  son  !  "  he  cried  ;  and  he  sprang  up 
and  dashed  the  cup  of  poisoned  wine  from  the  table, 
and  flung  his  arms  around  Theseus.  It  was  indeed 
a  glad  meeting  for  both  father  and  son,  and  they 
had  many  things  to  ask  and  to  tell.  As  for  the 


182 

wicked  Medea,  she  knew  that  her  day  of  rule  was 
past.  She  ran  out  of  the  palace,  and  whistled  a 
loud,  shrill  call ;  and  men  say  that  a  chariot  drawn 
by  dragons  came  rushing  through  the  air,  and  that 
she  leaped  into  it  and  was  carried  away,  and  no  one 
ever  saw  her  again. 

The  very  next  morning,  ^Egeus  sent  out  his  her- 
alds, to  make  it  known  through  all  the  city  that 
Theseus  was  his  son,  and  that  he  would  in  time  be 
king  in  his  stead.  When  the  fifty  nephews  heard 
this,  they  were  angry  and  alarmed. 

"  Shall  this  upstart  cheat  us  out  of  our  heritage  ? " 
they  cried ;  and  they  made  a  plot  to  waylay  and  kill 
Theseus  in  a  grove  close  by  the  city  gate. 
-  Right  cunningly  did  the  wicked  fellows  lay  their 
trap  to  catch  the  young  hero ;  and  one  morning,  as 
he  was  passing  that  way  alone,  several  of  them  fell 
suddenly  upon  him,  with  swords  and  lances,  and 
tried  to  slay  him  outright.  They  were  thirty  to 
one,  but  he  faced  them  boldly  and  held  them  at  bay, 
while  he  shouted  for  help.  The  men  of  Athens, 
who  had  borne  so  many  wrongs  from  the  hands  of 
the  nephews,  came  running  out  from  4:he  streets; 
and  in  the  fight  which  followed,  every  one  of  the 
plotters,  who  had  lain  in  ambush  was  slain;  and 
the  other  nephews,  when  they  heard  about  it,  fled 
from  the  city  in  haste  and  never  came  back  again. 


THE   WONDERFUL   ARTISAN. 

I.     PERDIX. 

WHILE  Athens  was  still  only  a  small  city  there 
lived  within  its  walls  a  man  named  Daedalus  who  was 
the  most  skillful  worker  in  wood  and  stone  and  metal 
that  had  ever  been  known.  It  was  he  who  taught  the 
people  how  to  build  better  houses  and  how  to  hang 
their  doors  on  hinges  and  how  to  support  the  roofs 
with  pillars  and  posts.  He  was  the  first  to  fasten 
things  together  with  glue ;  he  invented  the  plumb- 
line  and  the  auger ;  and  he  showed  seamen  how  to 
put  up  masts  in  their  ships  and  how  to  rig  the  sails 
to  them  with  ropes.  He  built  a  stone  palace  for 
^Egeus,  the  young  king  of  Athens,  and  beautified 
the  Temple  of  Athena  which  stood  on  the  great 
rocky  hill  in  the  middle  of  the  city. 

Daedalus  had  a  nephew  named  Perdix  whom  he 
had  taken  when  a  boy  to  teach  the  trade  of  builder. 
But  Perdix  was  a  very  apt  learner,  and  soon  sur- 
passed his  master  in  the  knowledge  of  many  things. 
His  eyes  were  ever  open  to  see  what  was  going  on 

183 


1 84 

about  him,  and  he  learned  the  lore  of  the  fields 
and  the  woods.  Walking  one  day  by  the  sea,  he 
picked  up  the  backbone  of  a  great  fish,  and  from 
it  he  invented  the  saw.  Seeing  how  a  certain 
bird  carved  holes  in  the  trunks  of  trees,  he  learned 
how  to  make  and  use  the  chisel.  Then  he  invented 
the  wheel  which  potters  use  in  molding  clay;  and 
he  made  of  a  forked  stick  the  first  pair  of  compasses 
for  drawing  circles ;  and  he  studied  out  many  other 
curious  and  useful  things. 

Daedalus  was  not  pleased  when  he  saw  that  the 
lad  was  so  apt  and  wise,  sc5  ready  to  learn,  and  so 
eager  to  do. 

"  If  he  keeps  on  in  this  way,"  he  murmured,  "  he 
will  be  a  greater  man  than  I ;  his  name  will  be 
remembered,  and  mine  will  be  forgotten." 

Day  after  day,  while  at  his  work,  Daedalus  pon- 
dered over  this  matter,  and  soon  his  heart  was  filled 
with  hatred  towards  young  Perdix.  One  morning 
when  the  two  were  putting  up  an  ornament  on  the 
outer  wall  of  Athena's  temple,  Daedalus  bade  his 
nephew  go  out  on  a  narrow  scaffold  which  hung 
high  over  the  edge  of  the  rocky  cliff  whereon  the 
temple  stood.  Then,  when  the  lad  obeyed,  it  was 
easy  enough,  with  a  blow  of  a  hammer,  to  knock 
the  scaffold  from  its  fastenings. 

Poor  Perdix  fell  headlong  through  the  air,  and  he 


1*5 

would  have  been  dashed  in  pieces  upon  the  stones 
at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  had  not  kind  Athena  seen 
him  and  taken  pity  upon  him.  While  he  was  yet 
whirling  through  mid-air  she  changed  him  into  a 
partridge,  and  he  flitted  away  to  the  hills  to  live  for- 
ever in  the  woods  and  fields  which  he  loved  so  well. 
And  to  this  day,  when  summer  breezes  blow  and 
the  wild  flowers  bloom  in  meadow  and  glade,  the 
voice  of  Perdix  may  still  sometimes  be  heard,  call- 
ing to  his  mate  from  among  the  grass  and  reeds 
or  amid  the  leafv  underwoods. 


II.     MINOS. 

As  for  Daedalus,  when  the  people  of  Athens 
heard  of  his  dastardly  deed,  they  were  filled  with 
grief  and  rage  —  grief  for  young  Perdix,  whom  all 
had  learned  to  love ;  rage  towards  the  wicked  uncle, 
who  loved  only  himself.  At  first  they  were  for 
punishing  Daedalus  with  the  death  which  he  so 
richly  deserved,  but  when  they  remembered  what 
he  had  done  to  make  their  homes  pleasanter  and 
their  lives  easier,  they  allowed  him  to  live ;  and  yet 
they  drove  him  out  of  Athens  and  bade  him  never 
return. 

There  was  a  ship  in  the  harbor  just  ready  to  start 
on  a  voyage  across  the  sea,  and  in  it  Daedalus  em- 


1 86 

barked  with  all  his  precious  tools  and  his  young 
son  Icarus.  Day  after  day  the  little  vessel  sailed 
slowly  southward,  keeping  the  shore  ol  the  main- 
land always  upon  the  right.  It  passed  Troezen  and 
the  rocky  coast  of  Argos,  and  then  struck  boldly 
out  across  the  sea. 

At  last  the  famous  Island  of  Crete  was  reached, 
and  there  Daedalus  landed  and  made  himself  known ; 
and  the  King  of  Crete,  who  had  already  heard  of 
his  wondrous  skill,  welcomed  him  to  his  kingdom, 
and  gave  him  a  home  in  his  palace,  and  promised 
that  he  should  be  rewarded  with  great  riches  and 
honor  if  he  would  but  stay  and  practice  his  craft 
there  as  he  had  done  in  Athens. 

Now  the  name  of  the  King  of  Crete  was  Minos. 
His  grandfather,  whose  name  was  also  Minos,  was 
the  son  of  Europa,  a  young  princess  whom  a  white 
bull,  it  was  said,  had  brought-  on  his  back  across 
the  sea  from  distant  Asia.  This  elder  Minos  had 
been  accounted  the  wisest  of  men  —  so  wise,  indeed, 
that  Jupiter  chose  him  to  be  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  Lower  World.  The  younger  Minos  was 
almost  as  wise  as  his  grandfather;  and  he  was 
brave  and  far-seeing  and  skilled  as  a  ruler  of  men. 
He  had  made  all  the  islands  subject  to  his  kingdom, 
and  his  ships  sailed  into  every  part  of  the  world 
and  brought  back  to  Crete  the  riches  of  foreign 


i87 

lands.  So  it  was  not  hard  for  him  to  persuade 
Daedalus  to  make  his  home  with  him  and  be  the 
chief  of  his  artisans. 

And  Daedalus  built  for  King  Minos  a  most 
wonderful  palace  with  floors  of  marble  and  pillars 
of  granite ;  and  in  the  palace  he  set  up  golden 
statues  which  had  tongues  and  could  talk ;  and  for 
splendor  and  beauty  there  was  no  other  building  in 
all  the  wide  earth  that  could  be  compared  with  it. 

There  lived  in  those  days  among  the  hills  of 
Crete  a  terrible  monster  called  the  Minotaur,  the 
like  of  which  has  never  been  seen  from  that  time 
until  now.  This  creature,  it  was  said,  had  the 
body  of  a  man,  but  the  face  and  head  of  a  wild  bull 
and  the  fierce  nature  of  a  mountain  lion.  The 
people  of  Crete  would  not  have  killed  him  if  they 
could;  for  they  thought  that  the  Mighty  Folk  who 
lived  with  Jupiter  on  the  mountain  top  had  sent 
him  among  them,  and  that  these  beings  would  be 
angry  if  any  one  should  take  his  life.  He  was  the 
pest  and  terror  of  all  the  land.  Where  he  was 
least  expected,  there  he  was  sure  to  be ;  and  almost 
every  day  some  man,  woman  or  child  was  caught 
and  devoured  by  him. 

"You  have  done  so  many  wonderful  things," 
said  the  king  to  Daedalus,  "  can  you  not  do  some- 
thing to  rid  the  land  of  this  Minotaur  ?  " 


1 88 

"  Shall  I  kill  him  ?  "  asked  Dsedalus. 

"  Ah,  no !  "  said  the  king.  "  That  would  only 
bring  greater  misfortunes  upon  us." 

"  I  will  build  a  house  for  him  then,"  said  Daeda- 
lus, "  and  you  can  keep  him  in  it  as  a  prisoner." 

"  But  he  may  pine  away  and  die  if  he  is  penned 
up  in  prison,"  said  the  king. 

"He  shall  have  plenty  of  room  to  roam  about," 
said  Daedalus ;  "  and  if  you  will  only  now  and  then 
feed  one  of  your  enemies  to  him,  I  promise  you 
that  he  shall  live  and  thrive." 

So  the  wonderful  artisan  brought  together  his 
workmen,  and  they  built  a  marvelous  house  with 
so  many  rooms  in  it  and  so  many  winding  ways 
that  no  one  who  went  far  into  it  could  ever  find  his 
way  out  again ;  and  Daedalus  called  it  the  Laby- 
rinth, and  cunningly  persuaded  the  Minotaur  to  go 
inside  of  it.  The  monster  soon  lost  his  way  among 
the  winding  passages,  but  the  sound  of  his  terrible 
bellowings  could  be  heard  day  and  night  as  he 
wandered  back  and  forth  vainly  trying  to  find  some 
place  to  escape. 

III.     ICARUS. 

Not  long  after  this  it  happened  that  Daedalus 
was  guilty  of  a  deed  which  angered  the  king  very 
greatly;  and  had  not  Minos  wished  him  to  build 


189 

other  buildings  for  him,  he  would  have  put  him  to 
death  and  no  doubt  have  served  him  right. 

"  Hitherto,"  said  the  king,  "  I  have  honored  you 
for  your  skill  and  rewarded  you  for  your  labor. 
But  now  you  shall  be  my  slave  and  shall  serve 
me  without  hire  and  without  any  word  of  praise." 

Then  he  gave  orders  to  the  guards  at  the  city 
gates  that  they  should  not  let  Daedalus  pass  out 
at  any  time,  and  he  set  soldiers  to  watch  the  ships 
that  were  in  port  so  that  he  could  not  escape 
by  sea.  But  although  the  wonderful  artisan  was 
thus  held  as  a  prisoner,  he  did  not  build  any  more 
buildings  for  King  Minos ;  he  spent  his  time  in 
planning  how  he  might  regain  his  freedom. 

"  All  my  inventions,"  he  said  to  his  son  Icarus, 
"have  hitherto  been  made  to  please  other  people; 
now  I  will  invent  something  to  please  myself." 

So,  all  through  the  day  he  pretended  to  be  plan- 
ning some  great  work  for  the  king,  but  every  night 
he  locked  himself  up  in  his  chamber  and  wrought 
secretly  by  candle  light.  By  and  by  he  had  made 
for  himself  a  pair  of  strong  wings,  and  for  Icarus 
another  pair  of  smaller  ones ;  and  then,  one  mid- 
night, when  everybody  was  asleep,  the  two  went 
out  to  see  if  they  could  fly.  They  fastened  the 
wings  to  their  shoulders  with  wax,  and  then  sprang 
up  into  the  air.  They  could  not  fly  very  far  at 


first,  but  they  did  so  well  that  they  felt  sure  of 
doing  much  better  in  time. 

The  next  night  Daedalus  made  some  changes 
in  the  wings.  He  put  on  an  extra  strap  or  two; 
he  took  out  a  feather  from  one  wing,  and  put  a 
new  feather  into  another;  and  then  he  and  Icarus 
went  out  in  the  moonlight  to  try  them  again. 
They  did  finely  this  time.  They  flew  up  to  the 
top  of  the  king's  palace,  and  then  they  sailed  away 
over  the  walls  of  the  city  and  alighted  on  the 
top  of  a  hill.  But  they  were  not  ready  to  under- 
take a  long  journey  yet;  and  so,  just  before  day- 
break, they  flew  back  home.  Every  fair  night  after 
that  they  practiced  with  their  wings,  and  at  the  end 
of  a  month  they  felt  as  safe  in  the  air  as  on  the 
ground,  and  could  skim  over  the  hilltops  like  birds. 

Early  one  morning,  before  King  Minos  had  risen 
from  his  bed,  they  fastened  on  their  wings,  sprang 
into  the  air,  and  flew  out  of  the  city.  Once  fairly 
away  from  the  island,  they  turned  towards  the  west, 
for  Daedalus  had  heard  of  an  island  named  Sicily, 
which  lay  hundreds  of  miles  away,  and  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  seek  a  new  home  there. 

All  went  well  for  a  time,  and  the  two  bold  flyers 
sped  swiftly  over  the  sea,  skimming  along  only  a 
little  above  the  waves,  and  helped  on  their  way  by 
the  brisk  east  wind.  Towards  noon  the  sun  shone 


HE   FELT   HIMSELF    SINKING    THROUGH   THE  AIR." 


192 

very  warm,  and  Daedalus  called  out  to  the  boy  who 
was  a  little  behind  and  told  him  to  keep  his  wings 
cool  and  not  fly  too  high.  But  the  boy  was  proud 
of  his  skill  in  flying,  and  as  he  looked  up  at  the  sun 
he  thought  how  nice  it  would  be  to  soar  like  it  high 
above  the  clouds  in  the  blue  depths  of  the  sky. 

"  At  any  rate,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  I  will  go  up 
a  little  higher.  Perhaps  I  can  see  the  horses  which 
draw  the  sun  car,  and  perhaps  I  shall  catch  sight  of 
their  driver,  the  mighty  sun  master  himself." 

So  he  flew  up  higher  and  higher,  but  his  father 
who  was  in  front  did  not  see  him.  Pretty  soon, 
however,  the  heat  of  the  sun  began  to  melt  the 
wax  with  which  the  boy's  wings  were  fastened.  He 
felt  himself  sinking  through  the  air ;  the  wings  had 
become  loosened  from  his  shoulders.  He  screamed 
to  his  father,  but  it  was  too  late.  Daedalus  turned 
just  in  time  to  see  Icarus  fall  headlong  into  the 
waves.  The  water  was  very  deep  there,  and  the 
skill  of  the  wonderful  artisan  could  not  save  his 
child.  He  could  only  look  with  sorrowing  eyes  at 
the  unpitying  sea,  and  fly  on  alone  to  distant  Sicily. 
There,  men  say,  he  lived  for  many  years,  but  he 
never  did  any  great  work,  nor  built  anything  half 
so  marvelous  as  the  Labyrinth  of  Crete.  And  the 
sea  in  which  poor  Icarus  was  drowned  was  called 
forever  afterward  by  his  name,  the  Icarian  Sea. 


THE   CRUEL   TRIBUTE. 

I.     THE    TREATY. 

MINOS,  king  of  Crete,  had  made  war  upon 
Athens.  He  had  come  with  a  great  fleet  of  ships 
and  an  army,  and  had  burned  the  merchant  vessels 
in  the  harbor,  and  had  overrun  all  the  country  and 
the  coast  even  to  Megara,  which  lies  to  the  west. 
He  had  laid  waste  the  fields  and  gardens  round 
about  Athens,  had  pitched  his  camp  close  to  the 
walls,  and  had  sent  word  to  the  Athenian  rulers 
that  on  the  morrow  he  would  march  into  their  city 
with  fire  and  sword  and  would  slay  alj  their  young 
men  and  would  pull  down  all  their  houses,  even  to 
the  Temple  of  Athena,  which  stood  on  the  great  hill 
above  the  town.  Then  ^Egeus,  the  king  of  Athens, 
with  the  twelve  elders  who  were  his  helpers,  went 
out  to  see  King  Minos  and  to  treat  with  him. 

u  O  mighty  king,"  they  said,  "  what  have  we  done 
that  you  should  wish  thus  to  destroy  us  from  the 
earth  ? " 

"  O  cowardly  and  shameless  men,"  answered  King 
Minos,  "  why  do  you  ask  this  foolish  question,  since 

OLD    GREEK    STORIES — 13  193 


194 

you  can  but  know  the  cause  of  my  wrath?  I  had 
an  only  son,  Androgeos  by  name,  and  he  was  dearer 
to  me  than  the  hundred  cities  of  Crete  and  the 
thousand  islands  of  the  sea  over  which  I  rule. 
Three  years  ago  he  came  hither  to  take  part  in  the 
games  which  you  held  in  honor  of  Athena,  whose 
temple  you  have  built  on  yonder  hilltop.  You  know 
how  he  overcame  all  your  young  men  in  the  sports, 
and  how  your  people  honored  him  with  song  and 
dance  and  laurel  crown.  But  when  your  king,  this 
same  yEgeus  who  stands  before  me  now,  saw  how 
everybody  ran  after  him  and  praised  his  valor,  he 
was  filled  with  envy  and  laid  plans  to  kill  him. 
Whether  he  caused  armed  men  to  waylay  him  on 
the  road  to  Thebes,  or  whether  as  some  say  he  sent 
him  against  a  certain  wild  bull  of  your  country  to 
be  slain  by  that  beast,  I  know  not;  but  you  can- 
not deny  that  the  young  man's  life  was  taken  from 
him  through  the  plotting  of  this  ^Egeus." 

"  But  we  do  deny  it  —  we  do  deny  it!"  cried  the 
elders.  "  For  at  that  very  time  our  king  was 
sojourning  at  Trcezen  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Saronic  Sea,  and  he  knew  nothing  of  the  young 
prince's  death.  We  ourselves  managed  the  city's 
affairs  while  he  wras  abroad,  and  we  know  whereof 
we  speak.  Androgeos  was  slain,  not  through  the 
king's  orders  but  by  the  king's  nephews,  who  hoped 


195 

to  rouse  your  anger  against  ^Egeus  so  that  you 
would  drive  him  from  Athens  and  leave  the  king- 
dom to  one  of  them." 

"  Will  you  swear  that  what  you  tell  me  is  true  ?  " 
said  Minos. 

"  We  will  swear  it,"  they  said. 

"  Now  then,"  said  Minos,  "  you  shall  hear  my 
decree.  Athens  has  robbed  me  of  my  dearest 
treasure,  a  treasure  that  can  never  be  restored  to 
me;  so,  in  return,  I  require  from  Athens,  as 
tribute,  that  possession  which  is  the  dearest  and 
most  precious  to  her  people ;  and  it  shall  be 
destroyed  cruelly  as  my  son  was  destroyed." 

"  The  condition  is  hard,"  said  the  elders,  "  but  it 
is  just.  What  is  the  tribute  which  you  require  ?  " 

"  Has  the  king  a  son  ?  "  asked  Minos. 

The  face  of  King  ^Egeus  lost  all  its  color  and  he 
trembled  as  he  thought  of  a  little  child  then  with 
its  mother  at  Troezen,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Saronic  Sea.  But  the  elders  knew  nothing  about 
that  child,  and  they  answered : 

"  Alas,  no !  he  has  no  son ;  but  he  has  fifty 
nephews  who  are  eating  up  his  substance  and  long- 
ing for  the  time  to  come  when  one  of  them  shall 
be  king ;  and,  as  we  have  said,  it  was  they  who 
slew  the  young  prince,  Androgeos." 

"  I  have  naught  to  do  with  those  fellows,"  said 


196 

Minos;  "you  may  deal  with  them  as  you  like. 
But  you  ask  what  is  the  tribute  that  I  require,  and 
I  will  tell  you.  Every  year  when  the  springtime 
comes  and  the  roses  begin  to  bloom,  you  shall 
choose  seven  of  your  noblest  youths  and  seven  of 
your  fairest  maidens,  and  shall  send  them,  to  me 
in  a  ship  w7hich  your  king  shall  provide.  This  is 
the  tribute  which  you  shall  pay  to  me,  Minos,  king 
of  Crete ;  and  if  you  fail  for  a  single  time,  or 
delay  even  a  day,  my  soldiers  shall  tear  down  your 
walls  and  burn  your  city  and  put  your  men  to  the 
sword  and  sell  your  wives  and  children  as  slaves." 

"  We  agree  to  all  this,  O  King,"  said  the  elders ; 
"  for  it  is  the  least  of  two  evils.  But  tell  us  now, 
what  shall  be  the  fate  of  the  seven  youths  and  the 
seven  maidens  ? " 

"  In  Crete,"  answered  Minos,  "  there  is  a  house 
called  the  Labyrinth,  the  like  of  which  you  have 
never  seen.  In  it  there  are  a  thousand  chambers 
and  winding  ways,  and  whosoever  goes  even  a  little 
way  into  them  can  never  find  his  way  out  again. 
Into  this  house  the  seven  youths  and  the  seven 
maidens  shall  be  thrust,  and  they  shall  be  left 
there  - 

"  To  perish  with  hunger  ?  "  cried  the  elders. 

"  To  be  devoured  by  a  monster  whom  men  call 
the  Minotaur,"  said  Minos. 


i97 

Then  King  /Egeus  and  the  elders  covered  their 
faces  and  wept  and  went  slowly  back  into  the  city 
to  tell  their  people  of  the  sad  and  terrible  conditions 
upon  which  Athens  could  alone  be  saved. 

"  It  is  better  that  a  few  should  perish  than  that 
the  whole  city  should  be  destroyed/'  they  said. 

II.     THE    TRIBUTE. 

Years  passed  by.  Every  spring  when  the  roses 
began  to  bloom  seven  youths  and  seven  maidens 
were  put  on  board  of  a  black-sailed  ship  and  sent 
to  Crete  to  pay  the  tribute  which  King  Minos 
required.  In  every  house  in  Athens  there  was 
sorrow  and  dread,  and  the  people  lifted  up  their 
hands  to  Athena  on  the  hilltop  and  cried  out, 
"  How  long,  O  Queen  of  the  Air,  how  long  shall 
this  thing  be  ?  " 

In  the  meanwhile  the  little  child  at  Trcezen  on 
the  other  side  of  the  sea  had  grown  to  be  a  man. 
His  name,  Theseus,  was  in  everybody's  mouth,  for 
he  had  done  great  deeds  of  daring;  and  at  last 
he  had  come  to  Athens  to  find  his  father,  King 
vEgeus,  who  had  never  heard  whether  he  was 
alive  or  dead ;  and  when  the  youth  had  made  him- 
self knotvn,  the  king  had  welcomed  him  to  his  home 
and  all  the  people  were  glad  because  so  noble  a 


198 

prince  had  come  to  dwell  among  them  and,  in  time, 
to  rule  over  their  city. 

The  springtime  came  again.  The  black-sailed 
ship  was  rigged  for  another  voyage.  The  rude 
Cretan  soldiers  paraded  the  streets ;  and  the 
herald  of  King  Minos  stood  at  the  gates  and 
shouted : 

"Yet  three  days,  O  Athenians,  and  your  tribute 
will  be  due  and  must  be  paid ! " 

Then  in  every  street  the  doors  of  the  houses  were 
shut  and  no  man  went  in  or  out,  but  every  one  sat 
silent  with  pale  cheeks,  and  wondered  whose  lot  it 
would  be  to  be  chosen  this  year.  But  the  young 
prince,  Theseus,  did  not  understand;  for  he  had 
not  been  told  about  the  tribute. 

"  What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this  ? "  he  cried. 
"  What  right  has  a  Cretan  to  demand  tribute  in 
Athens  ?  and  what  is  this  tribute  of  which  he 
speaks  ? " 

Then  yEgeus  led  him  aside  and  with  tears  told 
him  of  the  sad  war  with  King  Minos,  and  of  the 
dreadful  terms  of  peace.  "  Now,  say  no  more," 
sobbed  ^geus,  "  it  is  better  that  a  few  should  die 
even  thus  than  that  all  should  be  destroyed." 

"  But  I  will  say  more,"  cried  Theseus.  "  Athens 
shall  not  pay  tribute  to  Crete.  I  myself  will  go 
with  these  youths  and  maidens,  and  I  will  slay  the 


199 

monster  Minotaur,  and  defy  King  Minos  himself 
upon  his  throne." 

"  Oh,  do  not  be  so  rash !  "  said  the  king ;  "  for  no 
one  who  is  thrust  into  the  den  of  the  Minotaur  ever 
comes  out  again.  Remember  that  you  are  the 
hope  of  Athens,  and  do  not  take  this  great  risk 
upon  yourself." 

"  Say  you  that  I  am  the  hope  of  Athens  ? "  said 
Theseus.  "Then  how  can  I  do  otherwise  than  go?" 
And  he  began  at  once  to  make  himself  ready. 

On  the  third  day  all  the  youths  and  maidens  of 
the  city  were  brought  together  in  the  market  place, 
so  that  lots  might  be  cast  for  those  who  were  to  be 
taken.  Then  two  vessels  of  brass  were  brought  and 
set  before  King  /Egeus  and  the  herald  who  had 
.  come  from  Crete.  Into  one  vessel  they  placed  as 
many  balls  as  there  were  noble  youths  in  the  city, 
and  into  the  other  as  many  as  there  were  maidens ; 
and  all  the  balls  were  white  save  only  seven  in 
each  vessel,  and  those  were  black  as  ebony. 

Then  every  maiden,  without  looking,  reached 
her  hand  into  one  of  the  vessels  and  drew  forth 
a  ball,  and  those  who  took  the  black  balls  were 
borne  away  to  the  black  ship,  which  lay  in  wait- 
ing by  the  shore.  The  young  men  also  drew  lots 
in  like  manner,  but  when  six  black  balls  had  been 
drawn  Theseus  came  quickly  forward  and  said: 


2OO 

"  Hold !  Let  no  more  balls  be  drawn.  I  will  be 
the  seventh  youth  to  pay  this  tribute.  Now  let  us 
go  aboard  the  black  ship  and  be  off." 

Then  the  people,  and  King  yEgeus  himself,  went 
down  to  the  shore  to  take  leave  of  the  young  men 
and  maidens,  whom  they  had  no  hope  of  seeing 
again ;  and  all  but  Theseus  wept  and  were  broken- 
hearted. 

"  I  will  come  again,  father,"  he  said. 

"  I  will  hope  that  you  may,"  said  the  old  king. 
"  If  when  this  ship  returns,  I  see  a  white  sail  spread 
above  the  black  one,  then  I  shall  know  that  you 
are  alive  and  well ;  but  if  I  see  only  the  black 
one,  it  will  tell  me  that  you  have  perished." 

And  now  the  vessel  was  loosed  from  its  moorings, 
the  north  wind  filled  the  sail,  and  the  seven  youths 
and  seven  maidens  were  borne  away  over  the  sea, 
towards  the  dreadful  death  which  awaited  them  in 
far  distant  Crete. 

III.     THE    PRINCESS. 

At  last  the  black  ship  reached  the  end  of  its 
voyage.  The  young  people  were  set  ashore,  and 
a  party  of  soldiers  led  them  through  the  streets 
towards  the  prison,  where  they  were  to  stay  until 
the  morrow.  They  did  not  weep  nor  cry  out  now, 
for  they  had  outgrown  their  fears.  But  with  paler 


2OI 

faces   and    firm-set   lips,  they  walked  between  the 

rows  of  Cretan  houses,  and  looked  neither  to  the 
/• 

right  nor  to  the  left.  The  windows  and  doors  were 
full  of  people  who  were  eager  to  see  them. 

"  What  a  pity  that  such  brave  young  men  should 
be  food  for  the  Minotaur,"  said  some. 

"  Ah,  that  maidens  so  beautiful  should  meet  a 
fate  so  sad ! "  said  others. 

And  now  they  passed  close  by  the  palace  gate, 
and  in  it  stood  King  Minos  himself,  and  his  daugh- 
ter Ariadne,  the  fairest  of  the  women  of  Crete. 

"  Indeed,  those  are  noble  young  fellows ! "  said 
the  king. 

"  Yes,  too  noble  to  feed  the  vile  Minotaur,"  said 
Ariadne. 

"The  nobler,  the  better,"  said  the  king;  uand 
yet  none  of  them  can  compare  with  your  lost 
brother  Androgeos." 

Ariadne  said  no  more ;  and  yet  she  thought  that 
she  had  never  seen  any  one  who  looked  so  much 
like  a  hero  as  young  Theseus.  How  tall  he  was, 
and  how  handsome  !  How  proud  his  eye,  and  how 
firm  his  step !  Surely  there  had  never  been  his  like 
in  Crete. 

All  through  that  night  Ariadne  lay  awake  and 
thought  of  the  matchless  hero,  and  grieved  that  he 
should  be  doomed  to  perish ;  and  then  she  began  to 


2O2 

lay  plans  for  setting  him  free.  At  the  earliest  peep 
of  day  she  arose,  and  while  everybody  else  was 
asleep,  she  ran  out  of  the  palace  and  hurried  to  the 
prison.  As  she  was  the  king's  daughter,  the  jailer 
opened  the  door  at  her  bidding  and  allowed  her 
to  go  in.  There  sat  the  seven  youths  and  the 
seven  maidens  on  the  ground,  but  they  had  not  lost 
hope.  She  took  Theseus  aside  and  whispered  to 
him.  She  told  him  of  a  plan  which  she  had 
made  to  save  him;  and  Theseus  promised  her 
that,  when  he  had  slain  the  Minotaur,  he  would 
carry  her  away  with  him  to  Athens  where  she 
should  live  with  him  always.  Then  she  gave  him 
a  sharp  sword,  and  hid  it  underneath  his  cloak, 
telling  him  that  with  it  alone  could  he  hope  to 
slay  the  Minotaur. 

"  And  here  is  a  ball  of  silken  thread,"  she  said. 
"  As  soon  as  you  go  into  the  Labyrinth  where  the 
monster  is  kept,  fasten  one  end  of  the  thread  to  the 
stone  doorpost,  and  then  unwind  it  as  you  go  along. 
When  you  have  slain  the  Minotaur,  you  have  only 
to  follow  the  thread  and  it  will  lead  you  back  to  the 
door.  In  the  meanwhile  I  will  see  that  your  ship 
is  ready  to  sail,  and  then  I  will  wait  for  you  at  the 
door  of  the  Labyrinth." 

Theseus  thanked  the  beautiful  princess  and 
promised  her  again  that  if  he  should  live  to  go 


"THE  JAILER   OPENED   THE  DOOR  AT    HER    BIDDING." 


(203) 


2O4 


back  to  Athens  she  should  go  with  him  and  be 
his  wife.  Then  with  a  prayer  to  Athena,  Ariadne 
hastened  away. 


IV.    THE    LABYRINTH. 


As  soon  as  the  sun  was  up  the  guards  came  to 
lead  the  young  prisoners  to  the  Labyrinth.  They 
did  not  see  the  sword  which  Theseus  had  under  his 
cloak,  nor  the  tiny  ball  of  silk  which  he  held  in  his 
closed  hand.  They  led  the  youths  and  maidens  a 
long  way  into  the  Labyrinth,  turning  here  and  there, 
back  and  forth,  a  thousand  different  times,  until  it 
seemed  certain  that  they  could  never  find  their  way 
out  again.  Then  the  guards,  by  a  secret  passage 
which  they  alone  knew,  went  out  and  left  them, 
as  they  had  left  many  others  before,  to  wander 
about  until  they  should  be  found  by  the  terrible 
Minotaur. 

"Stay  close  by  me,"  said  Theseus  to  his  compan- 
ions, "  and  with  the  help  of  Athena  who  dwells  in 
her  temple  home  in  our  own  fair  city,  I  will  save 
you." 

Then  he  drew  his  sword  and  stood  in  the  narrow 
way  before  them ;  and  they  all  lifted  up  their  hands 
and  prayed  to  Athena. 

For  hours  they  stood  there,  hearing  no  sound, 
and  seeing  nothing  but  the  smooth,  high  walls 


205. 

on  either  side  of  the  passage  and  the  calm  blue 
sky  so  high  above  them.  Then  the  maidens  sat 
down  upon  the  ground  and  covered  their  faces 
and  sobbed,  and  said : 

"  Oh,  that  he  would  come  and  put  an  end  to  our 
misery  and  our  lives." 

At  last,  late  in  the  day,  they  heard  a  bellowing, 
low  and  faint  as  though  far  away.  They  listened 
and  soon  heard  it  again,  a  little  louder  and  very 
fierce  and  dreadful. 

"It  is  he!  it  is  he !"  cried  Theseus;  "and  now 
for  the  fight!" 

Then  he  shouted,  so  loudly  that  the  walls  of  the 
Labyrinth  answered  back,  and  the  sound  was  car- 
ried upward  to  the  sky  and  outward  to  the  rocks 
and  cliffs  of  the  mountains.  The  Minotaur  heard 
him,  and  his  bellowings  grew  louder  and  fiercer 
every  moment. 

"  He  is  coming ! "  cried  Theseus,  and  he  ran 
forward  to  meet  the  beast.  The  seven  maidens 
shrieked,  but  tried  to  stand  up  bravely  and  face 
their  fate ;  and  the  six  young  men  stood  together 
with  firm-set  teeth  and  clinched  fists,  ready  to  fight 
to  the  last. 

Soon  the  Minotaur  came  into  view,  rushing 
down  the  passage  towards  Theseus,  and  roaring 
most  terribly.  He  was  twice  as  tall  as  a  man, 


206 

and  his  head  was  like  that  of  a  bull  with  huge 
sharp  horns  and  fiery  eyes  and  a  mouth  as  large 
as  a  lion's;  but  the  young  men  could  not  see  the 
lower  part  of  his  body  for  the  cloud  of  dust  which 
he  raised  in  running.  When  he  saw  Theseus  with 
the  sword  in  his  hand  coming  to  meet  him,  he 
paused,  for  no  one  had  ever  faced  him  in  that  way 
before.  Then  he  put  his  head  down,  and  rushed 
forward,  bellowing.  But  Theseus  leaped  quickly 
aside,  and  made  a  sharp  thrust  with  his  sword  as 
he  passed,  and  hewed  off  one  of  the  monster's  legs 
above  the  knee. 

The  Minotaur  fell  upon  the  ground,  roaring  and 
groaning  and  beating  wildly  about  with  his  horned 
head  and  his  hoof -like  fists ;  but  Theseus  nimbly 
ran  up  to  him  and  thrust  the  sword  into  his  heart, 
and  was  away  again  before  the  beast  could  harm 
him.  A  great  stream  of  blood  gushed  from  the 
wound,  and  soon  the  Minotaur  turned  his  face 
towards  the  sky  and  was  dead. 

Then  the  youths  and  maidens  ran  to  Theseus 
and  kissed  his  hands  and  feet,  and  thanked  him  for 
his  great  deed ;  and,  as  it  was  already  growing  dark, 
Theseus  bade  them  follow  him  while  he  wound  up 
the  silken  thread  which  was  to  lead  them  out  of  the 
Labyrinth.  Through  a  thousand  rooms  and  courts 
and  winding  ways  they  went,  and  at  midnight  they 


207 

came  to  the  outer  door  and  saw  the  city  lying  in 
the  moonlight  before  them ;  and,  only  a  little  way 
off,  was  the  seashore  where  the  black  ship  was 
moored  which  had  brought  them  to  Crete.  The 
door  was  wide  open,  and  beside  it  stood  Ariadne 
waiting  for  them. 

"  The  wind  is  fair,  the  sea  is  smooth,  and  the 
sailors  are  ready,"  she  whispered ;  and  she  took 
the  arm  of  Theseus,  and  all  went  together  through 
the  silent  streets  to  the  ship. 

When  the  morning  dawned  they  were  far  out  to 
sea,  and,  looking  back  from  the  deck  of  the  little 
vessel,  only  the  white  tops  of  the  Cretan  moun- 
tains were  in  sight. 

Minos,  when  he  arose  from  sleep,  did  not  know 
that  the  youths  and  maidens  had  gotten  safe  out 
of  the  Labyrinth.  But.  when  Ariadne  could  not 
be  found,  he  thought  that  robbers  had  carried  her 
away.  He  sent  soldiers  out  to  search  for  her 
among  the  hills  and  mountains,  never  dreaming 
that  she  was  now  well  on  the  way  towards  dis- 
tant Athens. 

Many  days  passed,  and  at  last  the  searchers 
returned  and  said  that  the  princess  could  no- 
where be  found.  Then  the  king  covered  his  head 
and  wept,  and  said : 

"  Now,  indeed,  I  am  bereft  of  all  my  treasures ! " 


208 

In  the  meanwhile,  King  yEgeus  of  Athens  had 
sat  day  after  day  on  a  rock  by  the  shore,  looking 
and  watching  if  by  chance  he  might  see  a  ship 
coming  from  the  south.  At  last  the  vessel  with 
Theseus  and  his  companions  hove  in  sight,  but 
it  still  carried  only  the  black  sail,  for  in  their  joy 
the  young  men  had  forgotten  to  raise  the  white 
one. 

"  Alas  !  alas  !  my  son  has  perished  !  "  moaned 
-^Egeus ;  and  he  fainted  and  fell  forward  into  the 
sea  and  was  drowned.  And  that  sea,  from  then 
until  now,  has  been  called  by  his  name,  the 
Sea. 

Thus  Theseus  became  king  of  Athens. 


Typography  by  J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.,  Norwood,  Mass. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


JAN  29  1948 

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^  3$\l 

•:;  i-D 

r{    7  1953  LU 

25  i%'33H! 

K  ^A  D  /^  r  ,  ,  - 
"iM  A  v>  v-*  •    I 

REC'D  LD 

MAR  15  1960 

O/VOV6  1  si 

i. 

LD  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


YB  22416 


